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The fairy tries to comfort Cinderella. 

— Page 5 . 


Fairy Tales 

Everyone Should Know 


Edited by 

Anna Tweed 


Illustrated by 

Maginel Wright Enright 


Milton Bradley Company 

Springfield, Mass. 

- W kMA - 


Copyright, 1920, by 
MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY 
Springfield, Mass. 

Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 


IMMFEKkeo Pnw 

OOPYtrl i5H7 tyre - 

15 «&{ 


DEC -3 1920 


Bradley Quality Boobs 

/or Childrer 


Introductory Note 

This book of “ Fairy Tales Everyone Should 
Know” contains the foundation of culture as far 
as this form of folklore is concerned. Each story 
has long been accepted as a classic with vital 
interest and perennial charm. We often find 
reference to them in our miscellaneous reading; 
we often see use made of them by the cartoonists. 
Familiarity with such a collection of tales is 
essential to the education of children, and is 
scarcely less important for their elders. 

The version supplied for the text is simple and 
natural. Some of the primitive savagery that 
was in the early versions has been omitted, but 
the lively action, the humor, the quaint fancy, 
and the essential sweetness are all retained. The 
stories have a human interest that gives delight 
to persons of all ages, yet it is probably children 
from four to twelve who get the keenest enjoy- 
ment from them. 


iii 






Contents 


TAGS 


I. 

Cinderella .... 


1 

II. 

Jack and the Beanstalk . 


17 

III. 

The Babes in the Wood . 


32 

IV. 

Hop-o’-My-Thumb .' 


40 

V. 

The Sleeping Beauty . ' . 


58 

VI. 

Dick Whittington and His Cat 


70 

VII. 

The Ugly Duckling . 


86 

VIII. 

St. George and the Dragon 


106 

IX. 

Little Red Riding-Hood . 


133 

X. 

The Pied Piper 


139 

XI. 

Puss in Boots .... 


153 

XII. 

Tom Thumb .... 


166 

XIII. 

Beauty and the Beast 


188 

XIV. 

Jack the Giant Killer 


207 

XV. 

The Three Bears 


226 

XVI. 

Bluebeard .... 


232 


V 



Fairy Tales 

Everyone Should Know 

i 

Cinderella 

Once upon a time, though not in my time 
nor in your time, nor in the time of anyone 
else now living, there was a great king who 
had an only son. When this prince and heir 
was about to come of age, the king decided 
to give a grand ball in his honor. 

So a herald was sent forth to blow a trum- 
pet at every four corners where two roads 
crossed. As soon as the people came together 
he would call out: “ O yes, O yes, O yes! 
know you that on next Monday night his 
Grace, the king, will give a royal ball to which 
all maidens of noble birth are hereby sum- 
moned. Be it furthermore known unto you 


1 


2 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

that at this ball his Highness, the prince, will 
select a lady who shall be his bride and our 
future queen. God save the king! ” 

Among the nobles of the royal court was 
one whose wife had died leaving him a young 
daughter. Later he married again. The 
second wife had two daughters, and she 
neglected his daughter and favored her own 
in every way. 

The two daughters were much like their 
mother. They were proud and disagreeable. 
It displeased them that they had to share 
their home with the other girl, and they 
treated her very badly, though she was 
the sweetest, best-tempered lass that ever 
lived. 

She was compelled to work in the kitchen 
most of the time. She washed and wiped the 
dishes, tended the fire, and fed the parrot 
whose cage hung by the window. Besides, 
she swept the floors, scrubbed down the 
stairs, and kept tidy the chambers of the 
madam and her daughters. She slept in the 
garret on a wretched bed of straw, but the 
two sisters had rooms with polished floors 


Cinderella 


3 


and curtained beds and mirrors so large that 
they could see themselves reflected from head 
to foot. 

The poor girl bore her troubles with pa- 
tience and never complained. When she had 
finished her day’s work she used to sit in the 
chimney corner among the ashes and cinders. 
So the sisters called her Cinderella, a name 
which means Ashes, or, as some people think, 
Cinder-maid. In spite of hard work and 
shabby clothes Cinderella was a hundred 
times prettier than the other two in all their 
finery. 

You can imagine how excited the two sis- 
ters were when they heard of the king’s proc- 
lamation, for they made a great figure in 
society. “ What shall we wear, mother? 
What shall we wear? ” they cried. “ We 
shall certainly go, and perhaps we may have 
a chance to dance with the prince.” 

So they were wonderfully busy choosing 
such dresses as would be most becoming, and 
they could talk of nothing but their fine 
clothes day in and day out. 

“ I shall put on my crimson velvet gown 


4 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

with point lace trimmings/’ the elder an- 
nounced. 

“ And I,” the younger sister said, “ shall 
wear my gold-brocaded gown, and have a cir- 
clet of diamonds in my hair.” 

Their preparations made no end of work 
for Cinderella, who was kept constantly en- 
gaged in plaiting ruffles, and arranging bows 
and ribbons, and in washing and ironing the 
sisters’ linen. But she helped willingly all 
she could, and when the ball day came she 
offered to dress the young ladies’ hair. 

They were glad to have her do that, and 
while she was brushing and combing they 
said to her, “ Cinderella, don’t you wish you 
were going with us? ” 

“ Yes,” she answered, “ but such a grand 
affair is not for such as I am.” 

“ You are quite right,” they said. 
“ Everyone would laugh to see a ragged 
kitchen girl there. You would disgrace us 
all.” 

After Cinderella finished their hair she 
helped them put on their ball gowns, and 
never before in their lives had they been ar- 


Cinderella 


5 


rayed half so becomingly. Indeed, they were 
so delighted that at dinner-time they could 
hardly eat a morsel, and, besides, it would 
not have been easy to eat much anyway, for 
they had laced very tight to make their 
waists as slender as possible. 

In the early evening the two young women 
set off for the ball. Cinderella watched them 
from the open kitchen door until they were 
out of sight, and then, still standing there, 
burst into tears. At this moment a good 
fairy appeared and asked her what was the 
matter. 

‘ 6 1 wish — I wish — ’ ’ the poor girl began, 
but her voice was choked with sobs. 

“ You wish you could go to the grand ball 
in the king’s palace, ” the fairy said. 

“ Indeed, I do,” Cinderella agreed, wiping 
her eyes with her apron. 

“ Well, then, stop crying,” the fairy or- 
dered, “ and I will try to contrive that you 
shall go. Eun to the garden and bring me a 
pumpkin.” 

Off went Cinderella and brought back the 
finest pumpkin she could find, though she 


6 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

could not imagine what the fairy wanted of 
it. But the fairy took a knife, scooped out 
the inside of the pumpkin, and then touched 
the pumpkin with her wand. Immediately it 
was changed into a splendid gilded coach. 

“ Isn’t there a mouse-trap set in the store- 
room? ” the fairy asked. 

“ Yes,” Cinderella replied. 

“ Go and see if there are any mice in it,” 
the fairy said. 

Cinderella soon returned, bringing the 
trap with four mice inside. 

“Lift the trap door a little and let the mice 
out,” the fairy told her; and as they escaped 
she changed each one by a tap of her wand 
into a fine dapple-gray horse. 

“Now we need a coachman,” the fairy 
said. 

“ There’s likely to be a rat in the trap in 
the cellar, if you could make a coachman out 
of it,” Cinderella suggested. 

“ That’s a good thought,” the fairy re- 
sponded. “ So look at the trap without de- 
lay.” 

A few minutes later Cinderella returned 


Cinderella 


7 


carrying the trap, and inside was a rat with 
a tremendous pair of whiskers. The fairy, 
by a touch of her wand, changed the rat into 
a fat, jolly coachman on whose face were the 
smartest whiskers ever seen. 

“ The next thing for you to do,” the fairy 
said to Cinderella, “ is to go again to the 
garden. You will find two lizards there be- 
hind the watering-pot. Bring them hither. ’ ’ 
No sooner was Cinderella back with the 
lizards than the fairy turned them into foot- 
men with laced liveries, and they skipped up 
to a seat at the back of the coach just as 
naturally as if they had been footmen all 
their lives. 

“ Well, my dear,” the fairy said, “ here 
are your coach and four horses, your coach- 
man, and your footman. They will take you 
to the ball. Are you not pleased ? ” 

“ Oh, yes! ” Cinderella answered, “ but 
must I go in these shabby clothes? ” 

The fairy smiled and tapped her with the 
wand. At once her rags were changed to a 
beautiful silk dress blue as the heavens, all 
embroidered with stars. That done, the 


8 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

fairy gave her a pair of glass slippers, the 
prettiest in the world. 

“ These slippers are yours to keep al- 
ways,’ ’ she said, “ but the other things are 
enchanted for only a short time into the 
forms they have at present. So you must not 
on any account stay at the ball after mid- 
night. If you do, the coach will become a 
pumpkin again, your horses will be mice, 
your coachman a rat, your footmen lizards, 
and your beautiful clothes the rags you wear 
every day.” 

Cinderella promised the fairy that she 
would not fail to leave the palace before mid- 
night, and drove away in an ecstasy of de- 
light. 

When she arrived at the royal palace, the 
guards and attendants were so struck by 
her magnificent equipage that they supposed 
her to be some rich princess. At once the 
carriage was surrounded by courtiers who 
assisted her to alight and conducted her to 
the ball-room. The moment she appeared 
all voices were hushed, the violins ceased 
playing, and the dancing stopped short. 


Cinderella 9 

Everybody was admiring the stranger’s 
beauty. 

On all sides were heard such expressions 
as“ How handsome she is! ” “ How surpass- 
ingly lovely ! ’ ’ and the old king whispered to 
the queen that he had not seen so comely a 
young woman in many a long day. 

All the ladies busied themselves in consid- 
ering her clothes that they might have gar- 
ments of the same pattern, provided they 
could find such rich materials and seam- 
stresses sufficiently capable. 

The prince came forward to receive Cin- 
derella, and he so admired her beauty and 
manners that he promptly offered her his 
hand to dance. She was pleased beyond 
measure by this gracious reception and by 
the splendor of all she saw, and she danced 
with such grace and animation that the on- 
lookers were charmed. 

The proud sisters, in whose home she lived, 
were vexed to have anyone attract more at- 
tention than themselves, but they did not 
recognize the ragged kitchen girl in the su- 
perb garments she now wore. 


10 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

Presently a fine supper was served, and 
the young prince helped Cinderella to every 
delicacy, yet ate nothing himself he was so 
absorbed in gazing at the fair stranger. 

Time passed swiftly, and she never looked 
at the clock until a quarter to twelve. Then 
she rose in haste, made a low curtsy to the 
whole assemblage and retired in haste. Her 
coach was ready at the door of the palace, 
and she jumped into it and drove home as 
fast as she could. 

On arriving at the house, her coach, horses, 
and servants all disappeared, and she found 
herself clothed in her old tattered gown. 
She waited by the fire for the return of the 
sisters, eager to hear what they would say, 
but fully determined not to tell them any- 
thing of her own experiences. 

At length they came knocking at the door. 
Cinderella let them in with a pretense of 
yawning, and she rubbed her eyes as if she 
had just been waked out of a nap. “ How 
late you are! ” she said. 

“ Late ! ” one of the sisters repeated, “ you 
would not think of its being late if you had 


Cinderella 11 

been at the ball and seen the handsome prin- 
cess who was there. ” 

“ What princess was she? ” Cinderella 
asked. 

“ We do not know her name,” was the 
reply. “ Nor does anybody. She had a 
dress like the heavens, and on her feet she 
wore glass slippers. When midnight came 
she disappeared. The king’s son would give 
a fortune to know who she is. He has ar- 
ranged to have a second ball tomorrow night 
in the hope that she will come again.” 

“ If she is so beautiful as to have made 
such an impression as that, how I would like 
to see her! ” Cinderella exclaimed. “ Oh! 
my Lady Charlotte , 9 1 she said, addressing the 
elder sister, “ do lend me the yellow dress 
you wear every day. I want to put it on and 
go to the ball tomorrow evening. Perhaps 
I could get a peep at this wonderful prin- 
cess.” 

“What! lend my clothes to a common 
kitchen girl like you,” Miss Charlotte cried. 
“ I wouldn’t think of such a thing.” 

Cinderella expected to be refused and was 


12 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

not sorry, for she would have been very much 
puzzled to decide what to do had the yellow 
dress really been lent to her. 

On the following evening the sisters again 
went to the court ball, and shortly after their 
departure the good fairy came to Cinderella 
and told her to prepare to go also. A touch 
of the fairy’s wand served to supply a dress 
this time that was all golden brown like the 
earth embroidered with flowers. The equi- 
page she had used the night before conveyed 
her to the palace, and she was ushered into 
the ball-room with every attention. 

Great was the joy of the prince to see her, 
and he never left her side the evening 
through. He talked so charmingly that she 
forgot all about the time and had no thought 
that midnight was at hand when the clock 
began to strike, one — two — three — four 
— five — six — then she started to run. The 
clock continued striking, seven — eight — 
nine — she was going in great haste down 
the broad staircase that led to the palace en- 
trance — ten — eleven — twelve. One of her 
glass slippers dropped off, but she could not 


Cinderella 13 

stop to pick it up, for the clock had reached 
the final stroke. 

Thep, in a twinkling, she was a gay lady 
no more, but only a poor kitchen girl hurry- 
ing down the steps. The splendid coach and 
four horses, and the driver and two footmen 
had all vanished, and on the ground lay a 
scooped-out pumpkin, while four mice, a 
rat, and two lizards were scurrying away to 
find hiding places. 

Cinderella reached home quite out of 
breath, and she had nothing left of her grand 
apparel except one little glass slipper. When 
the sisters returned from the ball she asked 
them whether they had been well enter- 
tained, and whether the beautiful princess 
was there. 

“ Yes,” they replied, “ we enjoyed the 
ball very much, and the princess was there, 
but she ran away just as the clock struck 
twelve. The people who were at the ball 
have no more idea who she is than they had 
before.” 

When Cinderella fled, the prince had stood 
in amazement a moment and then pursued 


14 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

her. She was too swift for him, but as he 
was running down the stairway he noticed 
the little glass slipper that she had lost, and 
he picked it up. Then he went on and asked 
the guards at the palace gates whether they 
had seen a princess drive out in a grand 
gilded coach. 

“ No,” they said, “ the only person who 
has passed out of the gates for several hours 
is a ragged girl just gone, and how such a 
person as she happened to be in the palace we 
cannot imagine.” 

During the following days the prince 
caused inquiries to be made everywhere for 
the princess, and when the search failed he 
grew ill with disappointment. The king, 
who dearly loved his son, called a council 
and asked his ministers what they thought 
ought to be done. 

“ It is my advice,” the chief minister said, 
“ that you should cause a proclamation to 
be made all over the kingdom that the prince 
will marry her whose foot will just fit the 
slipper he found.” 

This plan was adopted. A herald was or- 


Cinderella 


15 


dered to take the glass slipper on a velvet 
cushion and go to every four corners where 
two roads crossed. There he was to sound 
his trumpet and call out: “ 0 yes, 0 yes, O 
yes ! be it known to you all that whatsoever 
lady of noble birth can fit this slipper on her 
foot shall become the bride of his Highness, 
the prince, and shall be our future queen. 
God save the king! ” 

So the slipper made the rounds of the 
country and many were the noble ladies who 
tried to put it on. They tried and tried and 
tried, but it was too small for them. 

At last it came to the home of the proud 
sisters. Each of them did all she possibly 
could to thrust her foot into the dainty slip- 
per and had to acknowledge that it did not 
fit. 

Cinderella, who was present, laughed and 
said, “ Suppose I were to try.” 

The sisters ridiculed her. “ What a fool- 
ish notion to think of that dainty slipper’s 
fitting your clumsy foot! ” they exclaimed. 

The herald who had brought the slipper 
looked at Cinderella and said, “ Only maid- 


16 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

ens of noble birth are allowed to try on the 
slipper.’ ’ 

Then her father spoke. “ She is my 
daughter,” he declared. “ Her birth is as 
noble as that of the other two.” 

So Cinderella sat down, while the two sis- 
ters looked on contemptuously. They were 
amazed when her foot went with ease into 
the slipper, which evidently fitted like wax. 
Their astonishment increased ten-fold when 
Cinderella got the other glass slipper from 
under the ashes in the chimney corner where 
she had hidden it, and put that on too. 

Just then the fairy appeared, touched her 
wand to Cinderella’s clothes, and made them 
once more the robes of a princess. Instantly 
the sisters recognized her as the beautiful 
stranger they had seen at the ball. 

The herald now conducted Cinderella to 
the royal palace where the prince welcomed 
her with great joy. In a short time Cin- 
derella and the prince were married, 
and after that they lived happily 
the rest of their days. 


II 

Jack and the Beanstalk 

Long before yon and I were born, there 
lived in an English country cottage a poor 
widow, who had an only child named Jack. 
She gratified him in everything, and the re- 
sult of her foolish kindness was that Jack 
paid little attention to anything she said and 
was heedless and naughty. 

It was not easy for them to get a living, 
and they were quite dependent on a cow that 
they owned. They drank some of the milk 
the cow gave and some they sold. But at 
last the cow went dry, and the widow said to 
Jack, with tears in her eyes, “ I don’t know 
what will become of us.” 

“ Cheer up, mother,” Jack said, “ I’ll go 
and get work.” 


17 


18 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

“ Nobody would keep you,” the widow de- 
clared. “ You never have learned to work. 
You just dream and dawdle. No, we must 
sell our cow or starve.” 

‘ ‘ J ust so ! ” J ack cried. “ We will sell the 
cow and have plenty of money. It’s market 
day, and I will start at once for market with 
the cow, and we shall see what we shall see.” 

His mother reluctantly consented, and off 
he went. But by and by he met a queer 
little old man who called out, “ Good 
morning, Jack! ” 

“ Good morning,” Jack responded, with a 
polite bow, wondering how the little old man 
happened to know his name. 

“ And where may you be going? ” the lit- 
tle old man asked. 

“Iam going to market to sell this cow,” 
Jack answered; “ and I mean to make a 
good bargain.” 

“ So you will! So you will! ” the little 
old man chuckled. “ You look the sort of 
chap for it. I bet you know how many beans 
make five.” 

6 6 Two in each hand and one in my mouth, ’ ’ 


Jack and the Beanstalk 19 

Jack said quickly, for he really was as sharp 
as a needle. 

“ Quite right, quite right! ” the little old 
man laughed, and as he spoke he took five 
beans from his pocket. “ Well, here they 
are. So let me have the cow.” 

Jack was so flabbergasted that he stood 
staring at the little man for fully a minute 
unable to utter a word. Then he exclaimed : 
4 4 What! sell this cow for five beans? Not 
if I know it! ” 

“ But they are magic beans,” the little 
old man explained. “ Plant them and they 
will bring you good luck. They are worth 
much more than your cow.” 

Jack looked at them. They were prettily 
colored and different from any beans he had 
seen before. “ I ’ll take them, ’ ’ he said, and 
the little old man went off with the cow while 
Jack trudged whistling homeward with the 
five beans, very well satisfied with his bar- 
gain. 

The lad’s mother met him at the gate, and 
said: “ I see you sold the cow. How much 
did you get for her? ” 


20 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

“ You’ll never guess,” Jack responded. 

“ Laws-a-mercy ! you don’t say so,” the 
good woman exclaimed. “ I’ve been worry- 
ing lest you should be cheated. Was it ten 
pounds — fifteen — surely you didn’t get 
twenty.” 

Jack triumphantly held out the beans, 
saying, “ That’s what I got for her.” 

‘ ‘ Those beans ? ’ ’ the widow said in amaze- 
ment. 

“ They’re magic beans,” Jack told her. 

But his mother took them and threw them 
out of the window. “ I can’t bear the sight 
of the miserable things,” she said, “ and now 
we shall soon starve, I suppose.” 

Night came and Jack went to bed and slept 
soundly in spite of his troubles. When he 
woke he at first thought it was moonlight, 
for there was a peculiar sort of gloom in the 
chamber. He stared at the little window. It 
was covered by leaves as if with a curtain ! 
He got hastily out of bed, dressed, and went 
to the window. What the queer little old 
man had said was true, The beans were 
magic. One of them had found soil, taken 


Jack and the Beanstalk 21 

root, and grown in the night till now its top 
was clear out of sight. 

Jack concluded that he would see where 
it went to. So he crept through the window 
to the beanstalk and climbed and climbed 
and climbed. The big stalk with the leaves 
growing out on each side was like a ladder. 
At last he reached the sky and found a 
strange country without a tree, shrub, house, 
or living creature in sight. 

He sat down on a stone to rest and said, 
“ Humph! if this is all there is up here I 
may as well go back home.” 

But while he was resting he saw a beauti- 
ful lady coming toward him along a path. 
As soon as she arrived where Jack was she 
spoke to him, and he rose and took off his hat. 

“ I am a fairy,” she said, “ and I want to 
tell you something about your father. Do 
you remember him? ” 

“ No,” Jack answered; “ and when I ask 
my mother about him she always begins to 
cry and will say nothing.” 

“ I thought as much,” the fairy went on, 
“ and you will understand why your mother 


22 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

never speaks of him when you hear my story. 
He was a brave and generous knight. The 
fairies were his friends and made him many 
wonderful presents; but after a time a 
wicked giant came to your father’s castle and 
killed him and carried off everything we had 
given him. 

“ At that time you were a little baby. 
The giant put you and your mother into one 
of his castle dungeons, but at last told your 
mother he would set her and her babe free on 
condition that she should never speak about 
her wrongs to anybody. She agreed, and he 
carried her to a place a great distance from 
where she had lived before. There he left 
her with just money enough to rent a little 
cottage and buy a cow. 

“ That giant lives in the country where 
you are now, and if you follow this path you 
will find his big castle over yonder hill. All 
that he has is rightfully yours, and perhaps 
you can contrive some way to regain posses- 
sion of what he stole from your father.” 

The fairy went on her way, and Jack, after 
thinking things over, decided to have a look 


Jack and the Beanstalk 23 

at the giant’s castle. He walked along the 
path and found the castle in a valley beyond 
the hill. On the doorstep stood a woman 
giant with a black porridge pot in her hand. 

The day was drawing to a close and Jack 
was very hungry. 6 6 Good evening, ma ’am, ’ ’ 
he said politely, “ would you be so kind as to 
give me some supper? ” 

“ Is it supper you want? ” the big woman 
said. “It’s supper you’ll be if you don’t 
move away from here. My husband likes to 
eat little boys.” 

“ But I am very hungry,” Jack told her, 
“ and I’ve had no food all this day.” 

“ Well, well, then I don’t wonder that 
you are hungry,” the giantess responded. 
‘ 6 Come along and I ’ll see what I can find for 
you.” 

She took him into the kitchen and gave 
him a piece of cheese and a bowl of bread 
and milk. He had disposed of most of this 
when 

Tramp ! Tramp ! ! TBAMP ! ! ! 
he heard the steps of someone coming, and 


24 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

the whole castle trembled with the heavy 
footfalls. 

44 Gracious me! ” the giantess exclaimed, 
44 there’s my husband. Be quick, lad, and 
jump into the oven or he’ll catch you.” 

The oven door was just closed when the 
giant strode into the room. J ack could see 
him through a small crevice. The big fel- 
low looked around and sniffed the air, 
frowned horribly, and said, 

44 Fe, fi, fo, fum! 

I smell the flesh of an Englishman. 

Be he alive or be he dead, 

I’ll eat the fellow with my bread ! ” 

4 4 Don ’t be silly, ’ ’ his wife retorted. 4 4 This 
afternoon the crows brought a piece of raw 
flesh to the top of the castle and dropped it 
on the roof.” 

44 Ha! ” the giant growled, 44 I thought it 
was something nearer and fresher than 
that.” 

He had three sheep strung to his belt, and 
now he threw them down on the table, say- 
ing: 44 Here, wife, cook these three snippets 


Jack and the Beanstalk 25 

for supper. They’re all I’ve been able to 
get today.” 

While she busied herself getting the sup- 
per ready he sat down and waited. When 
the sheep were served, Jack watching 
through the oven crevice, was amazed to see 
what a prodigious quantity he devoured. It 
seemed as if he would never have done with 
his eating and drinking. 

But at last his wife cleared off the table 
and went away to bed. “ I am getting a bit 
sleepy myself,” the giant said, “ but I must 
have a look at my money. ’ ’ 

Then he went to a big oaken chest and 
took out several bags of gold coins, which he 
brought to the table. He sat down, emptied 
a bag, and began to count the coins. But be- 
fore he finished he nodded off into a nap and 
was soon snoring with a noise like thunder. 

Now Jack crept out of the oven, and by 
getting on a chair beside the table he reached 
one of the bags of gold. With that in his 
hands he ran as fast as he could to the bean- 
stalk. He couldn’t climb down it with the 
heavy bag of gold. So he flung his burden 


26 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

down first, and followed as quickly as he was 
able. 

When he reached the bottom, there was his 
mother with a lantern picking up goldpieces 
in the garden, for of course the bag had 
burst. “ Dear me! ” she said, “ wherever 
have you been? See! It’s been raining 
gold.” 

Jack told her something of his adventures 
and they picked up as much of the money as 
they could find by lantern light and carried it 
into the house. 

They had money enough now, but Jack 
could not help thinking how many things the 
giant had that were rightfully theirs, and 
before long he again climbed the beanstalk. 
This time he carried some food so that he 
did not have to beg of the giant ’s wife. 1ST ear 
the great castle he hid behind a rock and 
watched until he saw the giantess come out 
to the well with a pail. While she was busy 
filling the pail he ran into the kitchen and 
hid in a closet. 

Soon the woman brought in the water, and 
by and by 


27 


Jack and the Beanstalk 

Tramp ! Tramp ! ! TRAMP ! ! ! 

came the giant. He began to sniff the in- 
stant he entered the kitchen and exclaimed : 

“ Fe, fi, fo, fum! 

I smell the flesh of an Englishman. 

Be he alive or be he dead, 

I’ll eat the fellow with my bread.” 

“ Twaddle! ” his wife said. “ Look 
around if you want to. If anybody is hiding 
here you ’ll probably find him in the oven.” 

He went to the oven, but luckily J ack was 
not there. “ Well, it’s empty,” the giant’s 
wife said, “ and I thought it would be. I’m 
tired of hearing your fe, fi, fo, fum! ” 

The giant wanted to do more searching, 
but his wife said: “ No, I won’t have you 
mussing up the house. You would turn 
everything you could lay your hands on 
topsy-turvy in your searching. I know that 
from experience. So sit down and eat your 
supper.” 

That was what he did, and afterward he 
called out, “ Wife, bring me the little 
speckled hen that lays the golden eggs.” 


28 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

She brought the hen and put it on the 
table, saying, “ If you don’t need me any 
more, my dearie, I will go to the next room 
to finish some sewing I have there.” 

“No, I don’t need you,” was the giant’s 
response. “ Go along.” 

She left and he patted the little hen on the 
back. “ Lay ” he said and the hen laid an 
egg of solid gold. 

Jack could hardly believe his eyes as he 
peeked out from the closet, and he made up 
his mind that he would have that hen, come 
what might. The giant held the egg in his 
hand and looked at it for a while, but pretty 
soon he fell asleep and snored so that the 
castle shook. 

Then J ack crept out of the closet, grabbed 
the little speckled hen, and ran. That fright- 
ened the hen, and she gave a cackle which 
woke the giant. He sat up and rubbed his 
eyes. “ Where’s my hen? ” he shouted. 

His wife came hurrying to the kitchen 
from the next room, and said, “ Why do you 
ask, my dear? ” 

Meanwhile Jack had smothered the hen’s 



Jack pursued by the giant down the beanstalk 






Jack and the Beanstalk 29 

cacklings in the bosom of his jacket and 
slipped very quietly out of a back door. N ow 
away he went to the beanstalk and descended 
it to his mother’s cottage. 

They took the best of care of the hen, and 
every day Jack told her to lay, and she laid 
a golden egg. After a time Jack went np 
the beanstalk again, and he kept going np 
every few days until he had carried off 
nearly all the giant’s treasure. 

On one of his visits the giantess brought a 
little harp and put it on the table before her 
husband. He leaned back lazily in his chair 
and said, “ Play.” 

And lo, and behold! the harp began to 
play. It played so beautifully that Jack in 
his hiding-place forgot all fear, and the giant 
fell asleep. The lad secured the harp with- 
out much difficulty, but when he attempted 
to get the giant’s bedquilt, the task almost 
proved his undoing. The quilt was made of 
silk of many colors, and it was adorned with 
precious jewels, and all along the edge were 
little silver bells that went tinkle, tinkle 
when Jack began to pull it off the bed. 


30 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

The giant was in the bed asleep, but he 
heard the bells, and called out, “ Who’s in 
my castle this dark dismal night? ” 

Jack kept perfectly still until the giant 
was snoring, and then he pulled the quilt off 
a little farther. The bells went tinkle, tinkle 
and the giant woke up. “ Who’s in my cas- 
tle this dark dismal night? ” he shouted. 

Jack stopped pulling and stayed as quiet 
as a mouse. But no sooner was the giant 
asleep again than Jack got the bedquilt a 
little farther off, and he kept on pulling at 
intervals until he had it all. Then away he 
ran with it, and how the bells did jingle! 

The giant was roused from his sleep and 
up he jumped and started in hot pursuit. 
Jack kept on at his best speed and went 
helter-skelter down the beanstalk. But be- 
fore he had made half the descent the giant 
started to come down, and his weight made 
the stalk sway like a tree in a storm. Jack 
clung to it and went faster and faster, mean- 
while shouting, “ Mother, mother! bring me 
an ax! ” 

His mother always sat up until he re- 


Jack and the Beanstalk 31 

turned from these adventurous forays, and 
out she ran with the ax just as Jack reached 
the ground. At once he began to chop off 
the beanstalk. The giant felt it quivering 
and stopped to look down to see what was 
the matter. J ust then J ack gave a final blow 
with his ax that brought giant, beanstalk and 
all tumbling to the earth. The fall killed 
the giant instantly. Jack and his mother 
were rich people afterward to 
the end of their 
days. 


Ill 

The Babes in the Wood 

A great many years ago there lived in 
England a brave kind gentleman who was 
held in high esteem by all who knew him. 
His wife was good and beautiful, and they 
loved each other most tenderly. 

They had lived happily together for a long 
time when the gentleman became sick. Day 
after day he grew worse, and his lady was 
so grieved by his illness that she became sick 
too. No medicines nor anything else gave 
them any relief, and they realized that they 
had not long to live. 

What troubled them most, now that their 
end drew near, was the thought that they 
would be taken away from their two chil- 
dren. One of the children was a fine boy 
four years old, and the other was a pretty lit- 

32 


The Babes in the Wood 


33 


tie girl not quite three. The father and 
mother talked together about the children’s 
future, and decided to give their babes into 
the care of the gentleman’s brother. 

He was sent for, and when he came, the 
gentleman said to him: “ Ah! brother, you 
can plainly see that the time of both my wife 
and myself on earth is short. Our poor babes 
will soon be left parentless. Brother, they 
will have no one but you to be kind to them. ’ ’ 

“ We commend them to your care,” the 
mother said. 

“ You need have no fear as to my doing 
the best I can for them,” the brother de- 
clared. 6 6 May Heaven never prosper me nor 
mine if I should do them wrong.” 

Not long afterward the gentleman and the 
lady died, and they were buried side by side 
in the same grave. 

The gentleman’s will gave his son three 
hundred pounds a year after he came of age, 
and the girl was to be paid five hundred 
pounds in gold on the day that she married. 
But if the son did not live till he was of age, 
and if the daughter did not live to be mar- 


34 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

ried, all their property was to go to their 
uncle. 

He took them to his own home, and for a 
time he made much of them and showed them 
great kindness. At length, however, he be- 
gan to covet their wealth, and to wish that 
they were dead so he could possess it. But 
they continued sturdy and well. 

Finally he said to himself : “ It would not 
be very difficult for me to have them de- 
stroyed in such a way that my neighbors 
would never suspect that I was responsible 
for the act. Then their property would be 
mine, and that would be the end of the 
matter. ” 

With this thought in mind, the cruel uncle 
soon decided how to dispose of the children. 
He hired two burly ruffians, who were used 
to doing desperate deeds, to take the little 
boy and girl into a thick dark wood, some 
distance away, and slay them. 

He told his wife an artful story of in- 
tending to send the children to London, 
where they could be brought up by one of his 
friends. Afterward he turned to the little 


The Babes in the Wood 


35 


boy and girl, who had stood close by listen- 
ing, and asked: “ Would you not like that, 
my pretty ones'? You will see famous Lon- 
don Town ; and you, my lad, can buy a fine 
wooden horse there, and ride on it all day 
long, and you can buy a whip to make your 
horse gallop, and you can buy a sword to 
wear by your side. As for your sister, she 
shall have pretty frocks, and she shall have 
dolls and other nice playthings.” 

6 ‘ Oh, yes ! I will go, uncle, ’ ’ the little boy 
said. 

“ Goody-good! ” the little girl exclaimed. 
“ I will go too.” 

Early the next day the children’s uncle 
got them ready, just as if they were going 
on a long journey, and sent them off in a fine 
coach in charge of the two ruffians he had 
hired. As the children rode along they prat- 
tled pleasantly to the men who intended to 
be their butchers until the coach reached the 
borders of the thick dark wood. 

There the wretches took out the little boy 
and girl, and told them they might walk a 
short way and gather some flowers. The 


36 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

children ran about here and there, getting 
farther and farther from the coach, and the 
men began talking together in low tones. 

“ Truly, ” one said, “ now that I have seen 
the babes’ sweet faces and heard their pretty 
talk, I have no heart to do the will of that 
villain, their uncle.” 

“ The thing suits me no better than it does 
you,” the other affirmed, “ but we have been 
paid so well for the job that I shall complete 
my part of the bargain.” 

The more kindly disposed ruffian would 
not agree to such a course, and they argued 
till they got angry and began to fight. 
Finally they drew the big knives with which 
they had planned to kill the babes, and the 
one who wished to spare the children stabbed 
his comrade so that the fellow dropped dead 
in the grass. 

The victor knew not what to do with the 
children now. He wanted to get away to 
some distant region as quickly as possible. 
If he was found near the man he had slain 
he could hardly hope to escape punishment. 
There was no time to take the children back. 


The Babes in the Wood 37 

Besides, they would not be safe in their un- 
cle’s power. 

He concluded that the best thing he could 
do would be to leave them in the wood and 
trust that they would be kindly treated by 
whoever passed that way and discovered 
them. So he went to where they had ram- 
bled in their flower-picking, and said, “ Take 
my hands and come with me.” 

They complied, and he led them on and on 
until they began to complain that they were 
hungry. 

“ Stay here,” he ordered, “ and I will go 
and get you something to eat.” 

Then away he went, and the babes sat 
there a long time waiting for him to return. 
“ Will the strange man come soon with some 
cakes for us ? ” the little girl asked. 

“ Before long, I think,” the boy replied 
encouragingly. 

They stood up and looked all about among 
the trees, but no one was in sight. They 
listened for approaching footsteps, but heard 
nothing except the wind fluttering in the 
foliage above their heads. 


38 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

“ Perhaps we had better go to meet the 
man,” the boy suggested; and hand in hand 
they wandered about in the wood. 

They found some blackberries and stained 
their lips eating them. At last night came, 
and they sat down and cried themselves to 
sleep. 

When day dawned, they resumed their 
wandering again, but they could not find 
their way out of the wood. Nor were they 
any more successful in the days that fol- 
lowed. Of course they could not live on 
blackberries, and so they died. 

There was no one to bury the pretty babes, 
but Robin Redbreast saw them lying side by 
side lifeless in the woodland, and he covered 
them with leaves. 

Meanwhile the wicked uncle supposed they 
had been killed according to his orders, and 
he let it be understood that they had died in< 
London of the smallpox. Their fortune be- 
came his, and he thought he had provided 
amply for his comfort and pleasure to the 
end of his days. 

But instead of happiness, he experienced 











ill 








^ ' WijHSL. *»«tr 


mm 


The babes are lost in the woods 













# 













' . 











«• 








« 










The Babes in the Wood 39 

only misfortune. He had no peace of mind, 
because he had an evil conscience, and his 
thoughts dwelt on the death of the babes. 
Moreover, his barns burned, his harvests 
failed, his cattle died in the pasture, and his 
two sons, who had gone on a voyage to Por- 
tugal, were wrecked and drowned. 

In the end he was brought to want and 
misery. He pawned his jewels and mort- 
gaged his land. Not long afterward he was 
thrown into jail for debt, and there he died. 

About this time the ruffian who had left 
the children in the wood was captured, after 
committing some crime, and he was sen- 
tenced to be hung. When he knew that he 
must die, he sent for the keeper of the prison 
in which he had been shut up, and confessed 
all the wicked deeds he had done. 

Among other things he told of the two 
children whom he and his companion had 
been hired to kill, and of the dispute that 
had ended in his companion’s death, and of 
how he left the babes in the wood. It 
was thus that their sad fate 
was made known. 


IV 

Hop-o ’-My- Thumb 

There was once a wood-cutter and his wife 
who had seven children, all boys, and none 
of them large enough to do much toward 
earning a living. So the parents had to 
work very hard to get food and clothing for 
their family. 

What made matters worse was that the 
youngest child was sickly and weak, and he 
was so small that his father and mother 
called him Hop-o ’-my-Thumb. Yet the little 
weak boy was gifted with a great deal of 
sense, and though he never had much to say, 
he noticed all that went on around him. 

The year that Hop-o ’-my-Thumb was five 
and his oldest brother was twelve, the harvest 
failed. Only half as much corn and potatoes 
as usual was raised on account of lack of 

40 


41 


Hop-o ’-My-Thumb 

rain, and a time came when the wood-cutter 
and his wife knew not how to supply this 
large family with food. Their last penny 
had been spent, and there was only a single 
loaf of bread left in the house. They must 
starve as soon as this loaf was eaten. 

That evening, after the children were all 
in bed, the father and mother sat by the fire 
thinking sadly of the dismal fate that 
awaited the family. 

“ My dear wife,” the wood-cutter said at 
length, “ a lingering death seems destined 
to be the fate of all of us. But I cannot bear 
to see our children die of hunger. Therefore 
I am resolved to lose them tomorrow in the 
forest.” 

“ That would be too dreadful,” the wife 
objected. 

“ But they cannot be worse off than they 
are at home,” the wood-cutter continued; 
“ and perhaps the fairies will take care of 
them. You and I will go very deep into the 
forest with the seven boys, and while they 
are busy tying up faggots we will slip away 
and leave them.” 


42 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

“ No, no! ” the wife exclaimed, “ I could 
never do such a thing.” 

“ But if we don’t do that,” the wood-cut- 
ter said, “ they will die here before our eyes, 
crying with hunger.” 

He kept on arguing until his wife con- 
sented to his plan, and then she went weep- 
ing to bed. 

The parents thought the children were all 
asleep while they talked, but Hop-o’-my- 
Thumb was wide awake. He heard what was 
said, and he never slept a wink that night for 
thinking of what he would do. 

Early in the morning he crept out of bed, 
ran to a brook near the house, and filled his 
pockets with tiny white pebbles. Then he 
went indoors. 

By and by the family ate half of the one 
loaf of bread for breakfast and started as 
usual for their day’s work in the forest. The 
father led the way, and Hop-o ’-my- Thumb, 
who came along behind all the others, 
dropped the little white pebbles one by one 
from his pockets. 

They kept on into the very thickest, gloom- 


43 


Hop-o ’-My- Thumb 

iest part of the woodland. There the father 
started chopping with his ax, while the 
mother and children picked up the brush and 
tied it into bundles. Thus they worked until 
late in the afternoon. Then the parents stole 
away, and as soon as they were out of their 
children’s sight they hurried back to their 
home. 

For a long time they sat silent in the lonely 
house. The sun went down and night was at 
hand when there came a rap at the door. A 
man had been sent by the lord of the manor 
with a present of ten shillings and a haunch 
of venison. 

“ Good evening to you,” he said, when the 
wood-cutter opened the door. ‘ 4 My lord, the 
baron, is sorry for the distress of his people. 
He is going to help them, and those who have 
large families like you are to get the most.” 

After delivering what he brought he hur- 
ried on his way, for there were other suffer- 
ing households to whom he was also carrying 
food and money. 

When he had gone, the wife exclaimed: 
“ Oh! if only our children were here to eat 


44 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

this nice venison. Let us go to the forest and 
find them.” 

“No,” the husband said sorrowfully, “ it 
would not do any good to seek them now. If 
the fairies have failed to take care of them, 
they must have been eaten by wolves before 
this time.” 

Then the mother wept and would not be 
comforted. 

However, though the children had not 
been taken cafe of by fairies, neither had 
they been eaten by wolves. As soon as they 
discovered that they were alone, Peter, the 
oldest boy, began to call, “ Father and 
mother, where are you? ” 

No voice answered him, and then he and 
all the other little boys, except Hop-o’my- 
Thumb, ran hither and thither shouting for 
their parents and crying. 

Hop-o ’-my-Thumb waited until he could 
make himself heard. Then he said : “ Broth- 
ers, you need not be alarmed. Our father 
and mother have left us here, but I will lead 
you safely home. ’ ’ 

“ Why did they leave us? ” Peter asked. 


45 


Hop-o ’-My- Thumb 

In reply, Hop-o ’-my- Thumb told them 
what he had overheard, and how he had 
strewed the white pebbles to guide them 
back. He ended by saying: “ Just follow 
me. It will soon be dark, and we must start 
at once.” 

He hurried along, keeping his eyes on the 
linp of pebbles, with the other boys close at 
his heels. They reached home presently, but 
because their parents had abandoned them, 
they were afraid they would not be wel- 
comed. So, instead of going in, they hud- 
dled under a window at the back of the house 
to listen. 

They heard the man come with the money 
and the venison, and after he had gone they 
heard their mother begin to cry. Then they 
ran around to the front of the house and in at 
the door, shouting, “ Here we are, mother! ” 

She hugged them every one, and though 
she continued to shed tears, they were tears 
of gladness and not of sorrow. The wood- 
cutter was no less rejoiced. He started a 
fire, and soon some slices of venison were 
broiling before the flames. When the meat 


46 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

was ready, the family sat down to the best 
supper they had eaten for a long time. 

Several weeks passed, and while the veni- 
son and the money lasted the wood-cutter 
got along very well. But the famine grew 
worse and worse, and finally the lord of the 
manor could not send his tenants any more 
supplies. 

Again there was nothing to eat in the 
wood-cutter’s home but a loaf of bread, and 
he could see no escape from starvation. He 
and his wife talked the matter over late one 
night and decided to take the children into 
the forest and lose them a second time. 

They talked in whispers so that Hop-o’- 
my- Thumb should not know what they said, 
even if he chanced to be awake. He really 
was awake, and he had such keen ears that 
he heard the conversation in spite of its be- 
ing in whispers. 

He determined to get more pebbles in the 
morning, but when morning came, the par- 
ents kept a sharp watch of him and would 
not let him go out of the house. This 
troubled him greatly until the mother gave 



Hop-o’ -My- Thumb drops bread crumbs 




Hop-o ’-My- Thumb 47 

each of the boys a slice of dry bread for their 
breakfast. 

Then Hop-o ’-my-Thumb said to himself, 
“ I can use bread crumbs instead of peb- 
bles; ” and he put his slice of bread into his 
pocket. 

The wood-cutter took his family deeper 
than ever into the forest this time, and Hop- 
o ’-my-Thumb followed behind the others 
scattering bread crumbs all the way. 

They worked as was their custom until 
toward evening their father proposed that 
the children should play a game of hide and 
seek. While they were playing he and the 
mother hurried off and left them. 

The children soon discovered that they had 
been deserted again, and there was much 
bitter crying, but Hop-o ’-my-Thumb said: 
“ Do not weep, my brothers. I will take you 
home.” 

They started, intending to follow the trail 
of bread crumbs, but the birds had eaten 
them all up, and the children were very 
much distressed. 

“ Well,” Hop-o ’-my-Thumb said, “ we 


48 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

must not waste time in tears. Come with 
me, and we will see if we can find some shel- 
ter for the night. ’ ’ 

He led the way, and the others huddled 
along close behind. The gloom of evening 
came, and the wind among the trees seemed 
to the children like the howling of wolves. 
Every moment they expected to be devoured 
and they hardly dared to speak a word. 

Presently Hop-o’-my-Thumb climbed to 
the top of a tall tree to look about for some 
path out of the forest. He could see no path, 
but far away a light was shining. “ There 
must be a house where that light is,” he 
said. 

When Hop-o ’-my- Thumb came down to 
the ground, he could not see the light, but he 
knew which direction to take. The little boys 
hastened along, and by and by got out of the 
forest. Then they saw right before them a 
great castle, and the light that Hop-o’-my- 
Thumb had seen was shining through an 
open door. 

They went to the door and looked in. A 
wrinkled old woman was busy at a fire- 


49 


Hop-o ’-My-Thumb 

place roasting a whole sheep, and Hop- 
o’-my- Thumb rapped to attract her atten- 
tion. 

She turned and looked at them. “ What 
do you want? ” she asked. 

“We are poor children who have lost our 
way in the forest,” Hop-o ’-my- Thumb said, 
“ and we beg you, for charity’s sake, to grant 
us a night’s lodging.” 

“ Alas! my little darlings,” the woman 
sighed, “ you do not know where you are 
come. This is the castle of an ogre who 
would like nothing better than to eat you. I 
am the cook here, and I know very well the 
sort of food he likes to eat.” 

“ Then what can we do?” Hop-o ’-my- 
Thumb asked. “ If you refuse to give us 
shelter, the wild beasts will tear us to pieces 
in the forest.” 

“ Perhaps I can hide you,” the woman 
said. “ Come in and I will do the best I can 
for you.” 

As soon as they entered the room, she shut 
the door, and the children sat down by the 
fire to warm themselves. They had not been 


50 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

there long when they heard heavy footsteps 
outside. 

i 1 The ogre is coming , 9 9 the old woman said 
in a whisper. “ Make haste and crawl under 
the bed.” 

Scarcely were they out of sight when the 
ogre walked in. 4 ‘ Is my supper ready ? ” he 
asked, and sat down at the table. 

The woman called in another servant, and 
the two of them lifted the sheep that was 
roasting before the fire and put it on a great 
pewter platter. Then they took up the plat- 
ter and placed it before the ogre. The sheep 
was half raw, but he liked it that way. 

After he finished eating, he began to sniff 
right and left. “ I smell fresh meat,” he 
said. 

“ It must be the calf I have skinned and 
bung in the pantry for your breakfast,” the 
cook told him. 

“No, no!” the ogre responded sus- 
piciously. “ It smells nearer and fresher 
than that.” 

Just then he chanced to look toward the 
fireplace and saw lying there a little shoe 


51 


Hop-o ’-Mv- Thumb 

that one of the boys had taken off. He 
stamped over to the hearth and picked it up. 

“ What is this? ” he demanded in a ter- 
rible voice. 

“ Why, that must be a shoe which belongs 
to your oldest daughter’s doll,” the cook 
said. 

At that moment, poor Peter, who hap- 
pened to have a bad cold, sneezed. 

“ Aha! ” the ogre exclaimed, shaking his 
fist at the cook, “ you have been deceiving 
me, and I would eat you if you were not so 
old and tough.” 

He dragged the children from under the 
bed and never gave the least heed to their 
appeals for mercy. Had it not been for the 
old woman he would have devoured one or 
two that night. “ See how lean they are,” 
she said. “ They have been half starved. 
If we feed them for a few days they will be 
much fatter.” 

The ogre took up Hop-o ’-my-Thumb and 
pinched his arms. “ You are right,” he 
agreed. “ This child is nothing but bones.” 

Then the ogre went upstairs to bed, and 


52 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

the old woman gave the boys a good supper. 
While they were eating, she said: “I’m 
afraid it’s little I can do to save you now 
that the ogre knows you are here. Even if 
you could get away from the castle, which is 
not likely, you would not be much better off ; 
for the ogre has a pair of magic boots that he 
only needs to put on to be able to go seven 
leagues at a stride. He would easily over- 
take you and bring you back. 

“The boots become large or small to fit 
the feet of whoever wears them, and if I 
could get one of you boys out of the castle I 
might give him the boots. Then he could 
escape, but what would become of the others ? 
No, my poor lads, your chances of living 
aren’t worth that ” — and she snapped her 
fingers. 

After supper the old woman put the boys 
to bed, and they were so tired that, in spite 
of their danger, they slept soundly right 
through the night. 

All the next day Hop-o ’-my- Thumb was on 
the watch for some chance to escape. But 
he could accomplish nothing because the 


53 


Hop-o ’-My- Thumb 

ogre’s daughters had been ordered by their 
father to keep the boys from straying. There 
were seven of the daughters. They had 
small gray eyes, and large mouths, and long 
sharp teeth. As yet they were young, and 
not very vicious ; but they showed what they 
would be, for they had already begun to bite 
little boys. So you may be sure that their 
captives did not in the least enjoy their 
company. 

When night came, and every one in the 
ogre’s castle had gone to bed, Hop-o ’-my- 
Thumb lay awake until all the others were 
asleep. Then he roused his brothers, and 
whispered: “ Wake up. We must be off.” 

They all dressed quickly and quietly, and 
he led the way out of a back door into a 
walled garden. By climbing up some vines 
that grew on the wall they got outside, but 
did not dare to go farther for fear of wolves. 
So they crept into a heap of straw that lay 
beside the wall and waited for daylight. 

Hop-o ’-my- Thumb thought he could find 
the way home by keeping along the edge of 
the forest, and as soon as there was light 


54 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

enough to enable them to see, they started 
for their home. 

The ogre was not an early riser, and he did 
not think of the hoys until after he had eaten 
breakfast. He was very angry when they 
were not to be found. 

“ Quick! ” he shouted to the old woman 
cook, “ bring me my seven-league boots, that 
I may go and catch the little rascals.” 

With those boots he could go a great dis- 
tance at a single step, and he would have 
caught the fugitives in a jiffy if only he had 
known just where to look for them. As it 
was, he hunted in every direction, striding 
from hill to hill, and stepping over wide 
rivers as if they had been brooks. 

Late in the afternoon the boys had arrived 
within a mile of home and were hurrying 
along intent on joining their parents before 
sundown when they saw the ogre coming. 
Luckily he had not seen them, and they scur- 
ried into a cave that was close by. 

The ogre had done so much racing about 
that he was tired, and no sooner did he come 
to the grassy hillside which was above the 


55 


Hop-o ’-My- Thumb 

cave than he lay down to rest. Soon he was 
asleep and snoring with a sound like thun- 
der that frightened the little boys very much. 

6 6 N ow, brothers, ’ 9 Hop-o ’-my-Thumb said, 
“ run home as fast as you can. I intend to 
follow you a little later, but first I’m going 
to see if I can get the ogre’s boots.” 

When the other boys had gone, he crept 
up to where the ogre lay, and tugged gently 
at the boots till he pulled them off. They 
were very large and heavy, but the moment 
Hop-o ’-my-Thumb put his own feet into 
them they fitted him perfectly. 

The boot-pulling disturbed the ogre with- 
out fully awakening him, but now he sud- 
denly opened his eyes and sat up. He saw 
what had happened and let out a roar of 
anger. 

Off went Hop-o ’-my-Thumb, taking such 
prodigious steps that he felt as if he were 
flying. The ogre jumped to his feet and 
gave chase, but was no match for the little 
lad in the seven-league boots. 

Not far from where the giant had lain 
was a precipice, and Hop-o ’-my-Thumb 


56 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

stepped off this cliff to an opposite hilltop. 
The ogre, who was rushing after him, for- 
got that he did not have the boots on and 
that he needed to be cautious. He did not 
halt on the brink of the cliff, but plunged 
down with a crash that made the rocks echo 
near and far. So ended the life of the savage 
ogre. 

In his castle was a treasure room that had 
one little window to let in light. The old 
woman cook had told Hop-o ’-my- Thumb of 
this window, and offered to let him out 
through it, but he did not accept her offer 
because the window was not large enough to 
allow his brothers to escape that way also. 

Now that the ogre was disposed of, Hop- 
o’-my-Thumb remembered the castle treas- 
ure room. “ Unless I can get some money to 
buy food with,” he said, “my father and 
mother and all the rest of us will starve. I 
must see what I can do.” 

So away he went, and the seven-league 
boots took him to the ogre’s castle in a 
twinkling. There he slipped in at the little 
window of the treasure room and loaded him- 


Hop-O’-My-Thumb 57 

self with all the gold he could carry. Then 
he hastened home. 

His father and mother were very happy 
to have all their children back and the 
money Hop-o’-my-Thumb brought enabled 
them to get all the food they needed. Thus 
they had no difficulty in passing through the 
remainder of the famine period very com- 
fortably. 

Afterward Hop-o ’-my- Thumb with his 
magic boots served the king as a messenger 
and gained great wealth. His prosperity did 
not make him selfish, and he gave his parents 
and brothers good homes and much 
else so that they lived happily 
all their days. 


The Sleeping Beauty 


Once upon a time, so long ago that even 
the oldest people now alive cannot remember 
it, there dwelt a king and queen in a great 
white marble palace that had splendid halls 
and high towers, and a golden roof which 
flashed in the sunlight. The king and queen 
possessed a great deal to make them happy, 
but they had no little child, which was what 
they wanted most of all. 

They prayed, they made vows, and they 
went on pilgrimages, and at last their desire 
was granted. The queen became the mother 
of a baby girl and there were great rejoicings 
all over the kingdom. Bonfires as big as hay- 
stacks were kept burning all night, fat oxen 
were roasted whole in the market-place of 


The Sleeping Beauty 59 

every town, and the church hells were rung 
until the ringers were out of breath. 

A few weeks later all was bustle and hurry 
in the palace to make ready for the christen- 
ing feast. The maids trimmed the halls and 
chambers with flowers, and sprinkled the 
floors with sweet-scented leaves and petals. 
Among the guests invited to the feast were 
seven powerful fairies. The choicest foods 
were provided for them, and a golden plate 
from which to eat was made specially for 
each of them. 

Just as the feast was about to begin there 
was a sudden clashing of brazen claws and 
a rushing of wings. Something like a black 
cloud passed before the windows and dark- 
ened the room. Then the great doors burst 
open with a terrible bang, and an old fairy 
with her face almost hidden in a black hood 
jumped out of a chariot drawn by fierce grif- 
fins, and came into the hall. 

The king turned pale, and the queen nearly 
fainted ; for this was the spiteful fairy, Tor- 
mentilla, who lived alone an immense dis- 
tance away from everywhere in a dismal cas- 


60 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

tie that stood in the middle of a desert. The 
queen in her happiness had forgotten all 
about her, and so neglected to send her an 
invitation. 

However, another chair was brought for 
Tormentilla, and she was given a place of 
honor at the table. All who were present 
tried to make up for the oversight, but in 
vain. Nothing pleased her. One thing, in 
particular, she could not forgive — each of 
the other fairies had a golden plate to eat 
from, but none had been made for her. So 
she chose to imagine that the king and queen 
did not treat her with sufficient respect, and 
she sat scowling angrily about her, neither 
eating nor drinking until the feast was 
over. 

Then she and the seven other fairies went 
to the chamber where the tiny princess lay 
sleeping in her cradle, and each stepped for- 
ward in turn to bestow a magic gift. 

The first said, “ She shall be as good as 
gold.” 

The second said, “ She shall be very beau- 
tiful.” 


The Sleeping Beauty 61 

The third said, “ She shall be the cleverest 
princess in the world.” 

The fourth said, “ She shall be the hap- 
piest princess in the world.” 

The fifth said, “ She shall sing like a 
nightingale. ” 

The sixth said, “ She shall be loved by all 
who know her.” 

Next the cross old fairy took her place be- 
side the cradle and shook her cane at the king 
and queen as she shouted, “ And I say that 
before the princess reaches the age of twenty 
she shall prick her hand with a spindle and 
die of the wound! ” 

At this the queen fell on her knees and 
begged Tormentilla to recall her cruel words. 
But the wicked fairy, without replying, 
turned and left the hall. 

Then the eighth fairy went to the queen 
and said: “ Do not cry, my dear lady, for 
though I cannot relieve the princess of this 
enchantment I can make it less severe. In- 
stead of dying she shall sleep for a hundred 
years. When that time is past, a prince 
shall come and awaken her with a kiss.” 


62 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

So the king and queen were somewhat com- 
forted, and the fairies returned to their 
homes. 

The greatest care was taken of the little 
princess in order to save her from her fatq, 
and a law was enacted that every spindle in 
the kingdom should be burned and no more 
made. 

Life moved along serenely for her until 
she was eighteen years old. All that the first 
six fairies promised had come true, and she 
was the best, the cleverest, the most beautiful, 
the happiest, and the sweetest-voiced prin- 
cess in the world, and everybody loved her. 
Indeed, by this time Tormentilla’s spiteful 
words were nearly forgotten. 

But one morning the king and queen went 
away to be gone till late in the afternoon, and 
the princess amused herself by wandering 
into the out-of-the-way nooks and corners 
and attics of the great building. She found 
dusty furniture that was so quaint it made 
her laugh, and she found many other curi- 
osities. 

At last she climbed a narrow winding 


The Sleeping Beauty 63 

stairway in an old tower. It led to a little 
door with a rusty key sticking out of the lock. 
She turned the key, opened the door, and 
there, in a low chamber, sat a white-capped 
old woman with a spinning-wheel before her 
on which she was spinning flax. This poor 
old woman had been allowed to make her 
home in the tower many years previous, and 
it happened that she had never heard the 
king’s command to destroy the spindles; 
for she was so deaf that if you shouted till 
you were hoarse she never would have been 
able to understand you. 

The princess stood on the threshold watch- 
ing the old woman. This was the first time 
she had ever seen a spinning-wheel. Pres- 
ently she said, “ What pretty work you are 
doing, and why does that wheel go whir, 
whir, whir? ” 

But of course the old woman could not 
hear, and she neither answered nor lifted 
her eyes from her work. So the princess 
stepped into the room and laid her hand on 
the old woman’s shoulder. 

The spinner looked up and rubbed her 


64 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

eyes. “ Deary, deary me! ” she cried in a 
high cracked voice, “ and who may yon be, 
my pretty darling*? ” 

“I’m the princess ! ” the maiden screamed 
in her ear. But the spinner only shook her 
head. She could hear nothing. 

Then the princess pointed to the spindle 
on which the flax was twirling into thread, 
and made the old woman understand that 
she wanted to try spinning. 

The spinner nodded and laughed and got 
up from her seat, and the princess sat down 
at the wheel. But scarcely had she begun to 
spin when she pricked her finger with the 
spindle. Immediately a faintness seized her. 
She staggered to a bed close by, and as soon 
as her head touched the pillow she became 
unconscious. 

At the same moment there was a deep 
silence everywhere in the castle. The little 
bird that just before had been singing so 
sweetly on the window-sill hushed its song. 
The distant hum of voices from the court- 
yard beneath was stilled. Even the old 
woman, who had been standing beside her 


The Sleeping Beauty 65 

wheel telling the princess how to spin, 
stopped short in what she was saying, 
drooped down into her chair and fell asleep. 

In the great hall the king and queen had 
just returned and seated themselves on 
their thrones. They inquired for their 
daughter, but fell asleep before the lady-in- 
waiting could answer them, and the lady her- 
self began to snore. The guards slumbered 
at their posts. The horses in the stables be- 
came motionless, and so did the dogs in the 
yard, the pigeons on the roof, and the flies 
on the wall. The fire ceased burning on the 
kitchen hearth, and the meat on the spit 
ceased roasting. 

In short, sleep fell on the whole palace, 
and round about the building there sprung 
up a magic wood. There was a multitude of 
trees large and small, and the brambles and 
briars all intertwined to make it impossible 
for man or beast to force a way through. 
The entire palace was hidden from view ex- 
cept a weather-vane on the loftiest pinnacle 
of the roof. 

Time went on until a hundred years had 


66 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

passed, and then, one day, a king’s son hap- 
pened to be hunting in the region. He be- 
came separated from his attendants in the 
excitement of the chase and lost his way. At 
length he came to a wood-cutter’s cottage 
and dismounted to ask about the roads. 

The old man who lived in the cottage gave 
him the required information, and in doing 
so spoke of a thick wood a little farther on in 
the direction the prince had been riding. 

“ No one has ever been able to get through 
that wood,” the old man affirmed, “ and my 
grandfather used to say it surrounded a cas- 
tle in which was a beautiful princess con- 
demned to sleep for a hundred years. He 
said some prince would come and awaken her 
with a kiss. We know there is a building in 
the wood because, when we are where we can 
overlook the treetops, a weather-vane is in 
sight.” 

On hearing this, off went the prince to 
have a look at the wood. When he found it, 
he tied his horse to a tree, intending to at- 
tempt to push his way through the thorny 
thicket on foot. He did not have the difficult 



The prince and the sleeping beauty, 





The Sleeping Beauty 67 

task he expected, for no sooner did he make 
a start than the tangled briars of the under- 
growth were changed into pretty flowers 
which parted and bent aside to let him pass. 

Presently he reached the palace courtyard 
and saw the dogs lying asleep, and the 
pigeons sitting on the roof with their heads 
under their wings. He went indoors, and 
there were the flies asleep on the wall, and 
there was the kitchen boy putting some 
plums into his mouth, and the cook with 
hand uplifted to box the lad’s ears, and a 
maid sitting near by with a fowl on her lap 
ready to pluck. 

In the great hall the prince found the 
whole court asleep, and the king and queen 
slumbering on their thrones. Everything 
was so still he could hear his own breathing. 

As yet he saw no princess, and he con- 
tinued looking about till he came to the old 
tower and ascended the narrow winding 
stairway. He entered the little room where 
the princess lay. Her cheeks were warm and 
pink, and she looked so lovely in her sleep 
that he could not turn away his eyes. After 


68 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

gazing at her a few moments he stooped and 
kissed her. 

Instantly she awoke and said: “ 0 prince, 
are you here at last ? I have had such pleas- 
ant dreams !” 

She sat up laughing and rubbing her eyes, 
then stood on her feet, and they went hand 
in hand out of the room. The old woman, 
who had also awakened, stared at them in 
amazement, mumbled a little to herself, and 
resumed her spinning. 

The two descended the winding stairway, 
and passed along the corridors until they 
came to the throne room. There the king 
and queen and whole court had just opened 
their eyes and were gazing at each other in 
wonderment. 

The long sleep was ended for the rest of 
the palace too. Boosters crowed, dogs 
barked, the cats began to mew, the clocks 
struck the hours, the heralds blew their 
trumpets, the pigeons cooed and flew away 
from the roof to the fields, the kitchen fire 
crackled merrily, the meat was roasting 
again, the boy with the plums put them in 


The Sleeping Beauty 69 

his mouth and the cook gave him such a 
box on the ear that he roared lustily, and the 
maid began to pluck the fowl. 

Everything went on as if there had been 
no enchantment at all. To be sure, the dress 
the princess was wearing was such as the 
prince’s great grandmother might have 
worn, but that only gave them something to 
laugh at. 

As soon as preparations could be made, 
the wedding of the prince and princess was 
celebrated with great splendor, and 
they lived happily ever after. 


YI 

Dick Whittington and His Cat 

In England, long ago, there was a boy 
called Dick Whittington, whose father and 
mother died when he was seven years old. 
He was left a ragged little fellow running 
around a country village, and as he was not 
old enough to work much, he was very badly 
off. He got little for his dinner, and some- 
times nothing at all for his breakfast and 
supper. In truth, the villagers were so poor 
that they could not spare him much more 
than the parings of potatoes and now and 
then a hard crust of bread. 

Dick was a bright boy, and he was always 
listening while others talked. He liked es- 
pecially to hear the chat of the farmers on 
Sunday while they stood about in the church- 
70 


Dick Whittington and His Cat 71 

yard before the parson came. In this man- 
ner he heard many strange things concern- 
ing the great city of London ; for the country 
people at that time thought folks in London 
were all fine ladies apd gentlemen, and that 
there was singing and music in the city all 
day long, and that the streets were paved 
with gold. 

One morning a large wagon drawn by 
eight horses all with bells at their heads ar- 
rived in the village. Dick was leaning 
against the sign-post of an inn where the 
driver stopped for a few minutes, and he 
heard someone say that the wagon was go- 
ing to London. So when the driver came out 
of the inn he said to him, ‘ ‘ Please, sir, will 
you let me walk with you to London by the 
side of your wagon? ” 

“ But what will your father and mother 
say? ” the driver asked. 

‘ 4 1 have no father and mother now , 9 ’ Dick 
replied, “ nor is there anyone who would 
care whether I stayed or went.” 

When the wagoner heard this and saw by 
the boy’s ragged clothes that he could not be 


72 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

worse off than he was, he told him he could 
go. The man cracked his whip, the horses 
started with their bells tinkling merrily, and 
away trudged Dick and his new friend. It 
was a long journey, but good-natured peo- 
ple in the towns the travelers passed through 
gave the boy something to eat, and at night 
the driver let him get into the wagon to 
sleep among the boxes and parcels. 

Dick arrived safely on the outskirts of 
London and was in such a hurry to see the 
splendid streets all paved with gold that he 
did not stay even to thank the wagoner, but 
ran on as fast as his legs would carry him. 
He hurried from one street to another, con- 
stantly expecting that the next one would 
be paved with gold. His idea was that he 
would only need to take up some bits of the 
pavement and then he would have as much 
money as he could desire. 

Poor Dick ran on till he was tired out. It 
was growing dark, and every way he turned 
he saw nothing but dirt instead of gold. So 
he sat down in an out-of-the-way nook and 
cried himself to sleep. 


Dick Whittington and His Cat 73 

There he stayed all night, and when morn- 
ing came he was cold and hungry. He got up 
and walked about asking everybody he met 
to give him a halfpenny that he might buy 
food to keep him from starving. But no one 
paid any attention to him except a man who 
said crossly, “ You are an idle rogue. ” 

He wished himself back in the country, 
where he knew he could find shelter in a 
comfortable kitchen and sit by a warm fire, 
and where he was at least sure of enough to 
eat so that he would not starve. At last he 
sat down very sorrowful, and faint for lack 
of food, at the door of a rich merchant’s 
house. Soon the cook spied him. She was 
an ill-tempered creature, and happened to 
be very busy getting dinner for her master 
and mistress. 

“ What business have you there, you 
young rascal? ” she called out. “ We want 
no beggars hanging around this house, and 
if you do not take yourself away, I will see 
how you like a sousing of dish-water. I have 
some here hot enough to make you jump.” 

Just then Mr. Fitzwarren, the owner of 


74 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

the house, came home to dinner. He saw the 
dirty ragged boy, and said: “ Why are you 
here, my boy ? You seem old enough to work. 
I am afraid you are inclined to be lazy.” 

“ No, indeed, sir! ” Dick protested ear- 
nestly. “ That is not the case, for I would 
work with all my heart if I could find work 
to do. But now I can hardly stand up, I 
have had so little to eat.” 

“ Poor fellow! ” the gentleman said, 
“ come into the house and we will see what 
we can do for you.” 

So the kind merchant had the lad accom- 
pany him to the kitchen. There he ordered 
that a good dinner be given him and that he 
should be kept to help the cook in such work 
as he was able to do. 

Little Dick would have lived very happily 
in this good family if the cook had not been 
so cross. She used to say: “ You are under 
me and you must keep busy. Clean the ket- 
tles and the dripping-pan, make the fires, 
wind the clock, and do all the other kitchen 
work nimbly, or — ” and she would shake 
the ladle at him. 


Dick Whittington and His Cat 75 

She was finding fault with him and scold- 
ing from morning to night, and sometimes 
she would whack him over the head with a 
broom. At length her ill-usage was observed 
by Mr. Fitzwarren’s daughter, Alice, who 
was about Dick ’s age. The little girl told the 
cook she would complain to her father and 
have her discharged if she did not treat the 
boy more kindly. 

That made the cook behave a little better, 
but Dick had still another hardship to en- 
dure. His bed was in a garret, where there 
were numerous holes in the floor and walls, 
and every night he was tormented by rats 
and mice. They ran over his face and dis- 
turbed him with their squeaking. Some- 
times he could scarcely sleep a wink. He 
could think of no way to mend matters until 
one day a gentleman who was visiting at the 
house gave him a penny for cleaning his 
shoes. 

“ Ah! ” Dick said, “ I wonder if I could 
buy a cat with this money.’ ’ 

Soon afterward he saw a girl passing with 
a cat in her arms. So out he ran and said, 


76 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

“ Will you let me have that cat for a 
penny? ” 

“ Yes, surely I will,” she replied, “ and 
you will find her an excellent mouser.” 

That just suited Dick, and he took pussy 
to his garret, where he fed her on scraps that 
he saved for her from his own food every 
day. In a little while he had no more trouble 
with the rats and mice and could sleep all 
night. 

One day Dick’s master announced that he 
had a ship ready to sail. It was his custom 
to allow his servants to have a chance to 
profit by the good fortune of his vessels, 
and he called them into the parlor to ask 
what money they would invest on this 
voyage. 

Dick had not a farthing in the world, and 
he stayed in the kitchen, but all the rest 
gathered as requested, and each was glad to 
venture something. 

Then Miss Alice asked for Dick and had 
him called in. “ If you have no money,” 
she said, “ I will let you have some from my 
own purse.” 


Dick Whittington and His Cat 77 

“ That will not do,” her father com- 
mented. “ Whatever he sends must be his 
own.” 

When Dick heard this, he said, “ I have 
nothing of my own but a cat which I bought 
some time since with a penny a gentleman 
gave me.” 

“ Fetch your cat then, my lad,” Mr. Fitz- 
warren ordered, “ and she shall go in the 
ship.” 

Dick went upstairs, and with tears in his 
eyes brought down pussy and gave her to 
the captain. “Pm sorry to have the cat go, ’ ’ 
he sighed, “ for now I shall be kept awake 
by the rats and mice.” 

All the company laughed at Dick’s odd 
venture. However, Miss Alice, who felt 
sorry for him, gave him some money to buy 
another cat. This and other marks of kind- 
ness shown by Miss Alice made the ill-tem- 
pered cook jealous of Dick. She began to 
use him more cruelly than ever, and often 
made sport of him for sending his cat to 
sea. 

“ Why,” she said, “ your cat won’t sell 


78 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

for as much money as would buy a stick with 
which to beat you.” 

Finally poor Dick could bear this abuse no 
longer, and he decided to run away. So 
after making a bundle of his few things, he 
started very early in the morning and walked 
on and on until he had left the city far be- 
hind. By and by he stopped on a hilltop 
where the road parted and sat down on a 
wayside stone to rest and decide which way 
he would go. 

While he was thinking, the bells of Bow 
Church back in the city began to ring, and 
their sound seemed to say, over and over, 

“ Return, Whittington, 

Lord Mayor of London.” 

“ Lord Mayor of London! ” he said to 
himself. 4 4 Why, I would put up with almost 
anything if' I could be Lord Mayor of Lon- 
don, and ride in a fine coach when I grow to 
be a man. Well, I will go back and bear the 
cuffing and scolding of the old cook as best 
I can.” 

Dick retraced his steps as quickly as he 






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Dick Whittington and His Cat 79 

could and was lucky enough to get into the 
house and start about his usual drudgery be- 
fore the cook came downstairs. 

The cat that Dick sent on the Unicom , as 
his master’s ship was called, voyaged to the 
coast of Africa, and she made herself useful 
in catching the unwelcome rats that were on 
board. Contrary winds drove the vessel to 
a part of the Barbary coast whither the Eng- 
lish had never gone before, and where the 
only inhabitants were Moors. When the ship 
put into a harbor, the people came in great 
numbers to see the sailors, who were so differ- 
ent from them in color and dress as to arouse 
their curiosity. However, they were very 
civil, and when they and the crew became 
better acquainted, they were eager to buy 
the fine things with which the ship was 
loaded. 

Presents were sent by the captain to the 
king of the country, who was so much 
pleased with them that he invited the ship ’s 
officers to come to the palace. A feast was 
prepared, but they had scarcely sat down to 
eat when a multitude of rats and mice came 


80 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

scampering in and devoured much of the 
food in spite of all efforts to drive them 
away. 

“ It seems to me,” the captain said, “ that 
these rats and mice are very disagreeable.” 

“Yes,” the king agreed, “they are so 
offensive that I would give half my treasure 
to be freed of them. They not only spoil 
my food, but they assault me in my chamber 
and oblige me to have a guard at my bedside 
while I am sleeping.” 

The captain remembered Whittington’s 
cat and told the king he had a creature on 
the ship that would dispatch all the vermin 
in short order. On hearing this, the king 
was jubilant. ‘ ‘ Bring the wonderful animal 
to me, ’ ’ he said, ‘ i and if she will do what you 
say, I will give you a fortune in exchange 
for her.” 

“ Hurry, hurry! ” the queen urged. “ I 
am impatient to see the dear thing. ’ ’ 

Off went the captain to the ship, took puss 
under his arm, and returned to the palace. 
He arrived just in time to see the rats and 
mice again rush pell-mell into the dining- 


Dick Whittington and His Cat 81 

hall where another feast had been spread. 
At once the cat scrambled away from the 
captain and pounced on the marauders. In 
a few minutes many of them lay dead on the 
floor and the rest scuttled off in great fright 
to their holes. 

The king and queen were quite charmed to 
get rid of such plagues so easily, and they 
asked that the cat might be brought to them 
so they could inspect her more closely, for 
no creature like her had hitherto been seen 
in their country. 

Then the captain called, “ Pussy, pussy, 
pussy! ” and the cat at once came to him. 

He carried her to the queen, who drew 
back afraid to touch a creature which made 
such havoc among the rats and mice. How- 
ever, the lady soon gained more confidence, 
and he put the cat down on her lap. There 
puss began purring and sang herself to sleep. 

The king was so well satisfied with the cat 
that he gave for her a cabinet of jewels worth 
ten times as much as the captain received for 
all his cargo. After exchanging the latter 
to great advantage for goods of that country, 


82 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

the vessel made ready for the return voyage. 
Sails were set, and with a fair wind the ship 
headed toward the open sea. 

One morning Mr. Fitzwarren had just 
come to his counting-house and seated him- 
self at his desk when somebody rapped at the 
door. “ Who is there?” the merchant 
asked. 

4 ‘ A friend, ’ ’ was the answer. 6 * I come to 
bring you good tidings of your ship, 
Unicorn.” 

The merchant bustled to the door in a 
great hurry, and who should he find waiting 
there but the ship’s captain with a cabinet 
of jewels and a list of the ship’s merchan- 
dise. When he had looked at the list, he 
lifted his eyes and thanked heaven for giving 
the ship such a prosperous voyage. 

Then the captain told the story of the cat 
and showed the jewels the king had pre- 
sented to obtain her. The merchant re- 
joiced as heartily on Dick’s behalf as he had 
over his own good fortune. He at once called 
in such of his servants as were near at hand 
and shared the news with them. 


Dick Whittington and His Cat 83 

They at first declared that so great a treas- 
ure was too much for the lad, but Mr. Fitz- 
warren said: “ God forbid that I should de- 
prive him of the value of a single penny. It 
is all his own.” Then he added: 

“ Go fetch him, and we’ll tell him of his 
fame; 

Pray call him Mr. Whittington by name.” 

Dick was found scouring the pots for the 
cook, and he tried to excuse himself from 
going to the counting-house, saying, “I 
haven’t swept the room yet, and my shoes 
are full of hobnails.” 

But the servants took him along with 
them, and when they entered the counting- 
house Mr. Fitzwarren ordered a chair to be 
set for him. Dick began to think they were 
making game of him, and he said, “ Please 
don’t play any tricks on me, but let me go 
back to my work.” 

‘ ‘ Indeed, Mr. Whittington, ’ ’ the merchant 
responded, “ we are very much in earnest. 
I congratulate you on your good fortune. 
The Unicorn has returned and the captain 


84 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

reports that he sold your cat to the King of 
Barbary. In exchange he received more 
riches than I possess in the whole world. I 
wish you may long enjoy them.” 

When the treasure was shown to Dick he 
hardly knew how to behave for joy. He 
begged his master to take what part of it he 
pleased, since he owed it all to his kindness. 

“ No, no,” Mr. Fitzwarren said, “ the 
wealth is yours, and I only urge that you 
use it well.” 

However, Dick was too kind-hearted to 
keep it all to himself, and he made generous 
presents to the captain and his crew, and to 
his fellow-servants in the house — even to 
the ill-natured old cook. 

By Mr. Fitzwarren ’s advice he went to a 
tailor to get himself dressed like a gentle- 
man, and when his new clothes were on and 
his hair curled, he was as handsome and 
attractive as any lad in London. He also 
gained in confidence, and by the time he was 
a young man he had dropped that sheepish 
behavior which had been largely the result 
of low spirits. In truth, he became so 


Dick Whittington and His Cat 85 

sprightly and pleasant a companion that 
Miss Alice fell in love with him, and at 
length they were married. 

Mr. Whittington and his lady lived in 
great splendor to a good old age, and were 
very happy. He became Sheriff of London, 
was three times Lord Mayor, and 
received the honor of 
knighthood from 
the king. 


VII 

The Ugly Duckling 

It was beautiful in the land of Denmark, 
for summer had come. The wheat was 
golden, the oats were still green, and the 
hay was stacked in the rich low-lying mead- 
ows, where the stork was marching about on 
his long red legs. 

Yes, the country was delightful, and in one 
of the prettiest spots the sunshine fell 
warmly on an old mansion surrounded by a 
deep moat. Between the walls of the man- 
sion and the water’s edge grew many great 
burdocks, which were so tall that the chil- 
dren could stand among them and not be 
seen. In the midst of these burdocks was 
seclusion like that of a dense forest, and 
there a duck had chosen to make her nest. 

She was sitting on her eggs, but the pleas- 
86 


87 


The Ugly Duckling 

ure she felt at first was now almost gone, be- 
cause she had been there so long and had so 
few visitors. She seldom saw the other 
ducks, as they liked swimming about in the 
moat better than waddling up to gossip with 
her under the dock leaves. 

At last the eggs began to crack one after 
another. The little ducklings were poking 
their heads out. “ Chirp, chirp! ” they 
cried. 

“ Quack, quack! ” the mother duck said; 
and they scrambled out of the shells as fast 
as they could and looked around on all sides 
among the green leaves. Their mother al- 
lowed them to look as long as they pleased, 
for green is good for the eyes. 

“ How big the world is! ” the young ones 
exclaimed; and though they could not see 
very far, it was very big compared with the 
space inside of the eggs. 

“ Do you think that this is the whole 
world ? ” the mother asked. “ Oh, no ! The 
world extends far beyond what is in sight 
here. It stretches on and on a long way to 
the other side of the garden right into the 


88 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

parson’s field; but I have never been as far 
as that. I suppose the eggs have all 
hatched.” 

She got up and looked down into the nest. 
“ No,” she sighed, “ the biggest egg is there 
yet. How long is this sitting going to last, 
I wonder?"’ 

Then she settled herself on the nest again 
just as an old duck came along and said, 
“ Well, how are you getting on? ” 

“ There seems to be no end of trouble with 
one of the eggs,” the tired mother com- 
plained. “ Probably the shell is too thick 
so that the poor little duckling inside can- 
not break through. But you must see the 
rest of the children. They are just as pretty 
as any mother could wish them to be; and 
how much they resemble their father who is 
certainly the handsomest drake in the whole 
flock! ” 

“ I would not spend any more time with 
the egg that has not broken,” the old duck 
said. “ Take my advice and leave it. You 
ought to be teaching your little ones to 
swim.” 


89 


The Ugly Duckling 

“ I will sit on it a little longer/’ the 
mother duck responded, shaking her head. 
“ I have been sitting on it so long already 
that a day or two more will not matter.” 

“ Oh! if you are suited, I have no objec- 
tion,” the old duck said, and with a stiff 
curtsy she went away. 

At last the big egg cracked. “ Cheep, 
cheep! ” the tardy comer cried, and tum- 
bled out. 

How large and ugly he was! The duck 
looked at him. 1 6 That is a great strong crea- 
ture, even if he is homely,” she said, “ and 
no doubt he will do very well.” 

The next day, as soon as the sun had risen 
and was shining warmly, the mother duck 
with all her family waddled down to the 
moat. Plump she went into the water. 
“ Quack, quack! ” she cried, and one duck- 
ling after another followed her. The water 
closed over their heads, but they soon came 
up and swam beautifully. 

As for the ugly gray late-comer, he pad- 
died around as merrily as any of them. 
“ Only see how well he moves his legs,” the 


90 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

mother duck said. “ How erect he holds 
himself. He is good-looking enough, after 
all. Quack, quack! Now, children, come 
with me and I will take you into society. W e 
are going to the poultry yard. Keep close 
to me or someone may tread on you ; and I 
warn you to beware of the cat.” 

When they arrived at the poultry yard a 
fearful uproar was going on. Two broods 
were fighting for the head of an eel, but in 
the end the cat got it. 

“ That’s how things go in this world,” the 
mother duck said, and she licked her bill, for 
she wanted the eel’s head herself. 

“ Children,” she went on, “ remember to 
quack properly, and when we pass that old 
duck you see yonder, I want you all to bow. 
She is the most distinguished of any of the 
fowls present. Look, she has a red rag 
round her leg. That is the finest mark of 
distinction any duck can have. It shows 
clearly that she is not to be parted with. 
Come along, and make haste, but, for good- 
ness ’ sake! don’t turn your toes in so! A 
well-bred duckling must walk just like papa 


91 


The Ugly Duckling 

and mamma. Imitate me in all things and 
pay attention to my commands. When you 
bow, do not neglect to bend your neck grace- 
fully and then boldly say, ‘ Quack, quack ! ’ 
Nothing more.” 

They did as they were told, but the other 
ducks who were in the yard looked at them 
with contempt and said, quite loud: “ Only 
see! Now we have another brood, just as if 
there were not enough of us already; and 
fie ! how ugly that big duckling is ! We will 
not endure him.” 

Immediately a duck flew at him and bit 
him in the neck. 

“ Let him alone,” the mother entreated. 
“ He is doing no one any harm.” 

“Yes, but he is so ungainly and queer,” 
the assailant said. ‘ ‘ He must be punished. ’ ’ 

‘ ‘ Those are fine children that the mother 
has,” the old duck with the red rag round 
her leg remarked. “ They are all good-look- 
ing except one. It is a pity she can’t hatch 
that one again.” 

“ He certainly is not handsome,” the 
mother acknowledged, “ but he is a very 


92 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

good child and swims as well as any of them. 
I think he will improve and be like the others 
after a while. Probably the difference is 
caused by his staying so long in the egg- 
shell.” 

As she spoke she did her best to smooth 
down the youngster’s gray-green uniform 
where it had been ruffled. “ He is a drake, ” 
she added, “ and very strong. Therefore 
looks do not matter so much. I think he will 
make his way in the world. ” 

“ The rest of the little ones are charm- 
ing, 9 9 the old duck with the red rag round her 
leg declared. “ Now make yourselves at 
home, and whenever one of you ducklings 
finds anything particularly nice to eat you 
may bring it to me.” 

So they took up their abode in the poultry 
yard, but the duckling who had come last out 
of the eggshell, and who was so ugly, was 
bitten, jostled, and teased by all the other 
poultry yard dwellers. 

“ He is too big,” they said; and the tur- 
key-cock, who was born with his spurs on 
and fancied himself an emperor, puffed him- 


93 


The Ugly Duckling 

self up like a ship in full sail, and bore down 
on the duckling gobbling till he became quite 
red in the face. 

The poor duckling was at his wits’ end, 
and did not know what to say or which way 
to turn. He was greatly distressed to be so 
ugly and the jest of the whole poultry yard. 
As time went on matters grew worse. The 
gray-green duckling was scorned by all. 
Even his own brothers and sisters behaved 
unkindly. The ducks bit him, the hens 
pecked him, and the girl who fed the poultry 
kicked him. 

At length his fear and despair so increased 
that he determined to run away. With a 
great effort he got through the hedge that 
surrounded the poultry yard, and hurried 
on as fast as his weak legs and wings would 
carry him. The little singing birds in the 
bushes flew up in a fright. 

“ That is because I am so ugly,” the duck- 
ling thought, and he hastened along till he 
came to a wide moor where some wild ducks 
lived. 

There he stayed, tired and miserable, all 


94 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

night. The full moon was shining in the 
sky, and its friendly countenance seemed to 
be laughing at the frogs which kept jump- 
ing from the water on to the grass and then 
back into the water. 

Early the next morning the wild ducks, 
aroused by the first glimmer of the sun, rose 
from the reedy pools to take a flight in the 
warm summer air. With surprise they saw 
the stranger. 44 What funny guy is this? ” 
they exclaimed. 4 4 Where can he have come 
from? ” 

The duckling, with all possible politeness, 
turned from side to side, first bowing to 
the right, and then to the left. 44 You are 
really uncommonly ugly,” the wild ducks 
said. 

For several days he remained among the 
rushes, only stirring about enough to get 
what food he needed. Then two wild gan- 
ders came and spoke to him. They were 
young and pert, and tried to show off their 
smartness. 

44 I say, comrade,” they called out, 44 you 
are so ugly that we have taken quite a fancy 


95 


The Ugly Duckling 

to you. Will you join us in a little excur- 
sion? Not far from here is another marsh 
where there are some charming wild geese, 
all young ladies. They would find you very 
interesting.” 

Just at that moment, bang! hang! went 
some guns. Both the young ganders fell 
dead among the reeds, and the water was 
reddened by their blood. Bang ! bang ! 
More shots were being fired, and whole 
flocks of wild ducks flew up from the marshy 
waters. 

A grand hunting party had come for a 
day’s sport. Men lay hidden all round the 
marsh, and some even sat on the branches of 
the trees that overhung the water. The blue 
smoke rose like a mist, and there was a smell 
of burning powder in the air. The dogs 
wandered about in the swamp — splash! 
splash! and the reeds and rushes bent be- 
neath their tread in all directions. 

How frightened the poor duckling was! 
Once a dog came close to him, his tongue 
hanging out and his eyes gleaming. He 
opened wide his jaws at sight of the duck- 


96 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

ling, showed his sharp white teeth, and — 
splash — he was gone. 

The outcast gave a sigh of relief and said, 
“ Well, thank heaven! I am so ugly that 
even the dogs won’t touch me.” 

The shooting continued until late in the 
day and then the duckling hastened away 
from the marsh as fast as he could. A 
boisterous wind was blowing and it had no 
consideration for the scantily-clad traveler. 
It impeded his progress and exhausted his 
strength. 

After a time the fugitive reached a misera- 
ble cottage, and discovered that its rickety 
door had broken loose from the lower hinge 
leaving a slanting crevice through which 
he could slip. The cottage was the home of 
an old woman who lived there with her tom- 
cat and her hen. Night had come and all 
three were asleep. So the duckling crept 
quietly in without disturbing them, and made 
himself comfortable in the nearest corner. 

The old woman loved the cat and the hen 
as if they had been her own children. She 
called the cat “ Sonny.” He was an expert 



The ugly duckling in the old woman’s house 








97 


The Ugly Duckling 

in purring, and he could turn head over 
heels so cleverly that no other cat in the 
neighborhood could equal him. Besides, if 
you stroked his fur the wrong way, his back 
gave forth bright sparks. The hen was a 
good layer, and because she had very short 
legs the old woman had named her “ Chicky 
Shortlegs.” 

In the morning the uninvited guest was 
found, and the cat began to mew and the 
hen began to cackle. 

“ What on earth is the matter? 99 the old 
woman asked, looking round. 

Then she saw the intruder, but her eyes 
were not good, and she mistook him for a 
fat duck that by some chance had wandered 
into her cottage. “ This is a rare prize! ” 
she exclaimed joyously. “ Now I shall have 
duck’s eggs — that is, if the stupid thing 
should not prove to be a drake. At any rate, 
we will give it a trial.” 

So the gray-green youngster remained on 
trial for three weeks, but no eggs made their 
appearance. 

The cat considered himself the master of 


98 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

the house, and the hen considered herself the 
mistress. They always spoke of “ we and 
the world,” for they imagined themselves 
to be not only half the world, but by far the 
better half. The duckling thought there 
might be two opinions about that, but the 
hen would not concede any such thing. 

“ Can you lay eggs? ” she asked. 

“ No,” the duckling replied. 

“ Well, then, hold your tongue,” the hen 
cackled. 

And the cat said, “ Can you arch your 
back, or purr, or give off sparks? ” 

“ No,” the duckling answered. 

6 ‘ That settles it, ’ ’ the cat declared. “ You 
had better keep your opinions to yourself 
when people of sense are speaking.” 

So the duckling sat alone in a corner, 
quite melancholy. He thought of the fresh 
air and the bright sunshine out-of-doors and 
felt such a strong desire to swim again that 
he could not help telling the hen of his 
longing. 

“ What ails you? ” the hen said. “ You 
have nothing to do. It is sheer idleness that 


99 


The Ugly Duckling 

allows these foolish freaks to get into your 
head. Lay eggs or purr and you will be all 
right.’ ’ 

“ But it is so delightful to swim,” the 
duckling responded; “ and it is even more 
delicious when the water closes over your 
head and you dive to the bottom.” 

“ Well, that is a queer sort of pleasure,” 
the hen remarked. “ I think you must be 
crazy. The cat is the most sensible animal 
I know. Ask him if he would like to swim 
and dive. Ask the old woman, our mistress. 
Do you suppose she would enjoy swimming, 
or having the water close over her head"? ” 

“ You do not understand me,” the duck- 
ling sighed. 

“ What — not understand you! ” the hen 
exclaimed. “ So you think yourself wiser 
than the cat and the old woman, not to men- 
tion myself. Don’t get silly things into your 
head, child, but thank your stars for all the 
kindness that has been shown you here. Are 
you not lodged in a warm room, and have 
you not the advantage of society from which 
you can learn something? But you are an 


100 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

idiot, and it is wearisome to have anything 
to do with you. Believe me, I wish you well. 
I tell you unpleasant truths, but it is thus 
that real friendship is shown.” 

“ I think I will go out into the wide world 
again,” the duckling said. 

“ Well, go ! ” Chicky Shortlegs responded 
sharply. 

So the duckling went, and he hurried on 
till he found the longed-for water. Then 
he swam about joyously and boldly dived 
right down to the bottom. 

Autumn came. The leaves turned yellow 
and brown, and the wind caught them and 
danced them about. The air was cold, and 
the crows sat on the hedges and croaked, 
“ Caw! caw! ” Things certainly looked far 
from cheerful to the poor duckling. 

One evening the sun was setting in chilly 
brilliance when a flock of large handsome 
birds rose out of the brushwood. The duck- 
ling had never seen any birds so beautiful 
before. Their plumage was pure white, they 
had long slender necks, and they spread out 
their magnificent broad wings to fly away 


101 


The Ugly Duckling 

from the cold northern region to warm coun- 
tries southward. They mounted very high, 
and the ugly duckling became strangely un- 
easy. He circled round and round in the 
water craning his neck up into the air after 
them. Then he uttered a cry so loud and 
shrill that he was frightened by it himself. 

When they had quite disappeared from 
sight he was greatly distressed. Ah! he 
could not forget those noble birds — those 
happy birds. He knew not what kind of 
birds they were, nor whither they were fly- 
ing, yet he loved them as he had never before 
loved any creature. He did not envy them, 
for how could it enter his head to wish he 
had such beauty. He would have been con- 
tent if "only the ducks in the poultry yard 
had endured his company. 

The weather grew bitterly cold, and the 
duckling was obliged to swim about in the 
water to keep it from freezing. But every 
night the opening in which he swam became 
smaller. At last, exhausted by constant ex- 
ertion, he was frozen tight into the ice. 

Early the following morning a peasant 


102 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

came along and saw him. The bird’s 
wretched plight roused the man’s pity, and 
he went out on the pond, broke the ice around 
the duckling with his wooden shoe, and car- 
ried him off to his wife. She took the half- 
frozen creaturp into the warm kitchen, where 
he soon recovered animation and strength. 

The children tried to play with him, but 
the duckling thought they wished to tease 
him, and in his terror he jumped into a pan 
of milk so that the milk was spilled about the 
room. The woman shrieked and threw up 
her hands, which thoroughly bewildered the 
duckling, and he flew into the jar where the 
butter was kept and thence into the meal 
barrel and out again. Just imagine what he 
looked like by that time ! 

The woman bewailed her losses while she 
pursued him with the tongs, and the chil- 
dren laughed and shouted as they tumbled 
over one another in trying to catch him. 
Luckily for the duckling, the door was open, 
and he fluttered out into the snow and found 
shelter in some bushes not far away. 

It would be too painful to tell of all his 


103 


The Ugly Duckling 

misfortunes and of the misery and privation 
he suffered during the winter. In some way 
he contrived to live, and finally the sun be- 
gan to shine warmly again. The duckling 
was in the marsh among the reeds. Larks 
were singing and beautiful spring had ar- 
rived. 

The outcast shook his wings. They were 
stronger than formerly, and when he tried 
a flight through the air they bore him swiftly 
forward. Before he was aware of it, he 
found himself in a large garden where the 
apple trees were in full bloom, and where 
the syringas sent forth their fragrance, and 
the willows drooped their slender green 
branches down into a winding stream. 

Just in front of him two beautiful white 
swans came sailing lightly over the water 
from behind some bushes. The duckling 
saw that they were the same sort of birds he 
had seen going away southward the previous 
autumn, and a feeling of deep sadness op- 
pressed him. 

“ I will fly to these royal birds,” he said, 
“ and they will kill me because I who am so 


104 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

ugly have presumed to approach them. But 
it won’t matter. Better to be killed by them 
than to be snapped at by the ducks, pecked 
by the hens, kicked by the poultry girl, and 
to have to suffer so much during the winter. ” 

He flew into the water and swam toward 
the beautiful creatures. They saw him and 
darted forward to meet him. 

“ You may kill me if you will,” he said, 
and he bowed his head low, expecting death. 
But what did he see in the water. There, 
beneath him, was reflected his own form, no 
longer that of an ugly gray bird — it was 
that of a swan. Then he knew that the big 
egg from which he had been hatched, and 
which he had heard the ducks in the poultry 
yard talk about, was a swan’s egg. 

The other swans gave him a friendly wel- 
come and stroked him with their beaks. 
Some little children came into the garden 
with grain and pieces of bread, which they 
threw into the water ; and the smallest child 
cried out: “ There is a new one! ” 

The others shouted with joy, “ Yes, a new 
swan has come! ” and they clapped their 


The Ugly Duckling 105 

hands and danced around, and then ran off 
to call their father and mother. 

The older members, of the family soon 
came, and all said, “ The new one is the pret- 
tiest.’ J 

He felt quite shy, and when the old swans 
bowed before him doing homage, he hid his 
head under his wing. The willows bent their 
boughs right down into the water toward 
him, and the sun shone warm and cheering. 
He rustled his feathers and raised his slen- 
der neck aloft, saying with exultation in his 
heart, “ I never dreamed of so much 
happiness when I was the 
ugly duckling.” 


VIII 

St. George and the Dragon 

Long, long ago, in the old English town of 
Coventry, a boy was born in the castle of his 
father, who was a brave knight; and this 
baby had on his breast the likeness of a red 
dragon, and on his right palm the likeness of 
a red cross. When he was two days old a 
strange thing happened. It was in the after- 
noon, and two nnrses were with him. One 
was busy with her needle. The other, who 
was rocking the cradle, looked out of the 
window for a moment, and in that moment 
the babe vanished, with no sound and with- 
out the nurses seeing any person near. 

Ten years passed, during which the father 
searched for his lost son in countries near 
and far. Then he was killed fighting the 
106 


St. George and the Dragon 107 

pagan Saracens in the Holy Land of Pales- 
tine. 

The babe, who was destined to be the 
patron saint of England, had been stolen by 
a wicked enchantress and carried off to her 
dominion in a dark forest many leagues from 
Coventry. This enchantress had the gift 
of eternal youth and beauty. She always 
appeared to her captive in the guise of a 
lovely maiden, and she was the only being 
in human form he saw until he had grown 
to manhood. His other companions were 
twelve satyrs, half men and half goats, 
who waited on him and taught him all 
knightly arts. 

At length there came a day when the en- 
chantress said to him: “ You shall be lord 
of all my magic realm if you will marry me 
and live with me forever. By my magic you 
shall have the same unchanging youth that 
I enjoy.” 

But deep in the youth’s heart was a dread 
and hatred of all that was evil. “ You are 
very beautiful,” he responded, “ and your 
realm is wonderful, yet you do wicked deeds. 


108 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

I do not think well of your black arts, and 
I do not love you. Those ugly guards of 
mine have told me that outside of your do- 
minion is a world where men strive for honor 
and justice. What would be my lot there ? ” 

“ It would be one of great sorrows and 
many hardships,” she replied. “ There 
would be in it more sadness and toil than 
joy.” 

They stood near a great gray cliff. She 
made a pass with the wand she carried, and 
he saw six comely knights fully armed, mo- 
tionless against the cliff, as if they also were 
rock. 

“ These knights would be your compan- 
ions if you chose that life of which I spoke.” 
the enchantress said. “ Each is a knight of 
a different country; and the countries are 
Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Spain, 
and Italy. The seven of you would be known 
as the Seven Champions of Christendom. 
But they will not wake as long as my en- 
chantment of this realm continues.” 

She made a mockery of the knights, and 
as she talked she led the way to a stable 


St. George and the Dragon 109 

where were seven noble steeds, like so many 
statues, and on the walls hung their trap- 
pings. 

“ Your comrades would ride six of these,” 
she said, “ but the white one, which is the 
swiftest and most powerful horse in the 
world, would be yours.” 

Near by was a castle, and they went into 
one of its large rooms that contained many 
weapons and suits of armor. Among the 
weapons was a great sword with a hilt in the 
shape of a cross. 

The enchantress pointed to it, saying: 
“ This would be your sword, and its fame 
would be-unequaled. With it you would be 
invincible. You would be known as St. 
George, the champion of right against 
wrong, of good against evil. The sword’s 
name is Ascalon. But surely you will not 
use it or live the hard life of the world. You 
will stay with me.” 

It seemed best that he should let her think 
he assented, and they went back to the great 
cliff. “ Now you shall have my wand,” she 
said, handing it to him. “ Strike this hard 


110 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

rock and see how potent my magic is. A 
stroke of the wand serves equally well to 
open a cleft or to close one.” 

He struck the rock, and with a rending 
crash a dark narrow way opened into it. 

“ Follow me,” the enchantress said, “ and 
you shall go to a more beautiful portion of 
my domain than you have ever before 
visited.” 

They went in a few steps, and then he 
suddenly leaped back and struck the rock 
with the wand again. Instantly the opening 
clanged shut, the earth trembled, and the 
trees roundabout bent and swayed as if a 
storm had struck them. The spell of the en- 
chantress was ended. 

St. George broke the wand across his knee 
and threw the fragments from him, saying : 
“ It is not fitting that I should use such a 
thing. Now I will join my comrades”; and 
he went to the spot where he had seen them. 

They were rubbing their eyes and stretch- 
ing themselves like men roused from deep 
sleep, and were asking one another questions 
in amazement at their sudden freedom. 


St. George and the Dragon 111 

5 ‘ Friends,” St. George said, “ I have slain 
the wicked enchantress who had made you 
like so many stone statues. We can go now 
to seek adventures in the world. There are 
weapons and steeds for us here, and we will 
fare forth as knights should.” 

They went to the armory where St. George 
got the sword Ascalon and such other things 
as he needed. His comrades equipped them- 
selves also, and then they all feasted to- 
gether. Finally they packed up such food 
as they chose to carry with them, got their 
steeds from the stable, and left the realm of 
the enchantress forever. 

They knew not whither they were going, 
but were determined to uphold the Christian 
faith against pagans, and honor and right 
against all evil-doers. 

After journeying many miles they came to 
a broad plain where seven roads met. Here 
each chose a different road, and they parted. 

St. George rode on alone and at length 
reached the seashore, where he found a ship 
about to sail for Egypt. He embarked and 
crossed the sea to that distant country. 


112 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

Then, mounted on his good white horse, he 
traveled on under the glaring sun amid 
strange heathen folk till he came to a little 
hut by some palm trees. 

This was the dwelling of a holy hermit, a 
long-bearded old man, who stood in front of 
his rough shelter of leaves and branches. He 
held up his arms and motioned St. George to 
stop. “ Come no farther, Sir Knight, ” he 
said. “ This is a land of mourning where 
are found sorrow and death.’ ’ 

“ But it is my task to aid the sorrowful, 
and to dare all that a brave knight may,” 
St. George responded. “ What is the evil 
from which your country suffers ? ” 

“ There is a loathsome dragon here,” the 
hermit replied. “ His lair is a cave in a 
fruitful valley. No man knows whence he 
came, but for twenty-four years he has rav- 
aged the king’s realm. If an innocent 
maiden is not taken to the valley each day for 
him to devour, he is much enraged and kills 
hundreds of people with his great claws or 
his poisonous breath. 

“ Only one maiden of suitable age is now 


St. George and the Dragon 113 

left, and she is the king’s daughter. When 
she is no more, Egypt will be at the mercy of 
the beast, who will not hesitate to spread 
death and misery far and wide. Tomorrow 
the fair Sabra must die unless some brave 
knight saves her by slaying the dragon. The 
hero who can thus deliver her will receive 
her in marriage and be made heir to the 
throne.” 

“ I want no kingdom,” St. George af- 
firmed, “ and as for your princess I know 
nothing of her. But if I can slay the dragon 
and save her I will.” 

The hermit shook his head. “ Many 
knights have said the like,” he declared. 
“ You will see their bones in the valley if 
you are rash enough to venture there.” 

“ Would you have a Christian knight fear 
to aid a lady in peril because others have 
failed? ” St. George asked. “ Let me rest 
in your hut this night and I will fight the 
dragon on the morrow.” 

So the hermit shared his simple fare with 
St. George and let him sleep in the hut. The 
next morning they went to the entrance of 


114 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

the valley, and then, after receiving a bless- 
ing from the hermit, St. George rode on 
alone down a stony path through a dark 
wood of cypress trees. 

Beyond the wood, bound to an outlying 
tree, he saw a princess so lovely that she 
seemed to light up the whole valley. She 
was clad in white silk and had a golden cir- 
clet on her head. From farther down the 
valley could be heard at intervals a low 
threatening roar, and she was looking with 
dread in that direction. 

St. George alighted by the tree, drew his 
sword, and cut the bonds. Then he knelt and 
saluted the lady. “ I have come to fight the 
dragon,” he said, “ and you must hasten 
away.” 

At that moment there sounded a roar that 
made the branches of the trees rattle against 
each other and started an echo that rumbled 
like thunder between the rock walls of the 
valley. 

“ I will go,” the princess said, looking at 
St. George earnestly, “ and if my prayers 
can bring you victory you will win.” 


St. George and the Dragon 115 

Then she turned and fled up the path. St. 
George rode in the other direction, his armor 
jingling gayly and flashing in the sun, and 
with his spear, his sword, and his shield, on 
which was blazoned the red cross of Eng- 
land, ready for action. 

The bottom of the valley was strewn with 
the white bones of dead knights, and with 
rusty weapons and pieces of armor. St. 
George’s horse sniffed the air and snorted, 
but kept on, and they passed a fair orange 
tree loaded with fruit that glowed like golden 
lamps. 

Straight ahead was the dragon’s cave, and 
now the dragon came forth. He was breath- 
ing out hot and poisonous smoke from his 
nostrils and the beat of his huge leathery 
wings as he half ran, half flew, toward the 
champion made the orange tree leaves rustle 
like the clapping of hands. 

St. George gripped his spear and spurred 
his horse into a gallop. When he and the 
dragon met he felt as if his spear had run 
against a stone wall. It was useless for 
piercing the horny scales. As he recoiled, 


116 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

his horse reared up and the two rolled over 
under the branches of the orange tree. 

Luckily no poisonous creature could 
breathe the fragrance of this kind of tree, 
and the dragon dared not come within the 
compass of its branches. So St. George was 
able to rest in safety till he recovered his 
strength. Then he arose, mounted his horse, 
and drew his sword from its sheath. 

“ Now will I see whether this good blade 
can pierce a dragon’s hide,” he said. 

He urged his horse forward, and smote the 
fiery dragon a blow that cut through the yel- 
low scales on his breast. The beast reeled, 
and St. George gave him so deep a thrust 
under one of his red wings as to pierce his 
heart. Then the dragon’s great legs grew 
weak. He fell over on his side lifeless, and 
all the grass around turned crimson with 
his blood. 

The knight cut off the creature’s hideous 
head, and started riding to the royal city 
taking the head with him. But there had 
been onlookers who had seen the fight from 
the adjacent cliffs, and they quickly carried 





St. George assails the dragon. 











St. George and the Dragon 117 

the news of the glorious victory to court. At 
once King Ptolemy ordered that the streets 
should be hung with rich tapestry, and went 
himself in his best chariot accompanied by 
Sabra to meet the hero. The chariot was fol- 
lowed by thirty negroes in purple robes, 
mounted on camels, and next came men with 
all manner of musical instruments, then 
standard bearers and guards, and finally a 
crowd of people bearing flowers and wreaths 
to strew before the champion. 

When St. George met this procession he 
saluted the king saying: “Hail, King of 
Egypt ! I bring you a gift ” ; and he held up 
the dragon’s head, which was so terrible that 
few who saw it could help shuddering. 

“ You could bring no gift that would give 
greater happiness to my people,” the king 
declared. “ Come with us to the city, Sir 
Knight, and let us feast.” 

After St. George had told the king who he 
was and some details of his fight in the val- 
ley, the procession turned about, and re- 
turned to the city with one of the king’s 
guards going on before bearing the dragon’s 


118 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

head aloft on his lance. As soon as they 
arrived at the palace, St. George washed off 
the stains of travel and of the fight, and 
donned new clothing that the king furnished. 

Then there was a great feast with song and 
minstrelsy, and at its close the king said: 
“ St. George of England, I promised that 
whoever slew the dragon should have my 
daughter for his wife. Do you consent to 
that? ” 

St. George looked at the princess and she 
at him. “ Gladly would I wed her, but not 
against her will, ” he said. 

“ You are my choice/’ she declared, and 
gave him a diamond ring of great value. 

Then King Ptolemy proclaimed that the 
wedding should take place in two months’ 
time. 

During the next few days St. George en- 
joyed himself at the Egyptian court in tilts 
and tournaments with the nobles and in 
dancing and conversing with the ladies, but 
his happiness soon came to an end. 

Sabra had long been loved by Almidor, 
King of Morocco, and although he knew that 


St. George and the Dragon 119 

she could not bear the sight of him, he hoped 
to win her through the influence of her 
father. Presently he went to Ptolemy and 
told him — what was perchance true — that 
the beautiful Sabra had promised St. George 
to become a Christian and go with him to 
England. 

Ptolemy was greatly enraged that his 
daughter should slight her religion, and he 
was furious to think of her going to England, 
a far-away country, set in the midst of a 
great ocean, which no man in his own land 
had ever seen. So the two kings plotted the 
champion’s destruction. In accord with the 
plan they agreed on, the Egyptian king or- 
dered St. George to go with a letter to the 
Sultan of Persia. Really the letter which 
the unsuspecting knight was requested to de- 
liver described him as a dangerous enemy of 
the Mohammedan religion, and contained 
an earnest request that he might be put to 
death. 

Obedient to the king’s command, St. 
George at once left the court. Day after day, 
from dawn to dusk, he traveled with the ut- 


120 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

most haste till he arrived at the sultan’s pal- 
ace. Great was his surprise and dismay 
when he learned the contents of the letter 
and heard himself sentenced to death in 
thirty days. 

In vain he remonstrated against this 
treachery and cruelty. He was seized by a 
number of guards, who took away his fine 
raiment and clothed him in the dress of a 
slave. Then they bound his hands together 
with stout cords and threw him into a hor- 
rible dungeon. No light entered it, rats vis- 
ited him in the darkness, and when the 
guards brought him his poor allowance of 
bread and water each day, they came by lan- 
tern-light. 

There he lay in his damp cell sighing and 
lamenting, while far away in Egypt Sabra’s 
father forced her to marry the King of Mo- 
rocco, whom she hated, and who had brought 
about all her lover’s troubles. 

The thirtieth day came, and now the roar- 
ing of two lions reached the knight’s ears. 
One of his guards entered and said: “ Sir, 
you hear the royal beasts who await you. 


St. George and the Dragon 121 

For four days they have not tasted food. 
The sultan, in his great mercy, commanded 
that they should be made fierce and hungry 
so they would make short work of you. ’ ’ 

After thus speaking, the guard conducted 
the prisoner along a narrow passage to a 
kind of circular den hollowed out of rock. 
There the lions were walking back and forth, 
lashing their tails and roaring as they 
looked hungrily up at the Persians who were 
gazing down from the top of the walls. 

Suddenly St. George exerted all his 
strength and hurst asunder the cords that 
bound his wrists. The lions saw him and 
sprang furiously toward him; but he met 
them unshaken, greatly to the amazement of 
the onlookers. Before the huge beasts could 
set their teeth into his flesh, he thrust his 
hands down their throats and tore out their 
hearts. 

The sultan was already aware that St. 
George had slain the fiery dragon in Egypt, 
and when he saw him destroy without weap- 
ons the two lions, he concluded that his pris- 
oner was more than human. So he gave up 


122 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

the idea of putting him to death. However, 
he thought him too dangerous a person to be 
allowed at large and sent him back to the 
dungeon, which he ordered made doubly se- 
cure by closing the door with immovable iron 
bars. The only opening left was a little shut- 
ter through which food could be pushed. 

For many weary months the unhappy 
knight was kept in that dark miserable place, 
never once seeing the light of heaven. He 
only knew the difference between night and 
day by the bringing of his food. At last, 
when he chanced to stumble into a pool of 
water that was in a cranny of his dungeon, 
he found a crowbar that was still strong in 
spite of rust. Perhaps it had been used to 
pry the fetters off from some former captive, 
or it might have been a tool of the craftsmen 
who built the dungeon. 

St. George waited till about midnight. 
Then he managed to get the point of his bar 
into a crack at the edge of the heavy dungeon 
door. Slowly but firmly he pressed on the 
bar, the fastenings gave way, and the door 
swung open. Beyond was a grating of bars, 


St. George and the Dragon 123 

but he contrived to bend two of them far 
enough apart to enable him to squeeze 
through. 

He was in a passage dimly lighted by a 
lantern. The guards were asleep. He took 
the lantern and, still gripping his crowbar, 
hastened softly along till he turned a corner 
and suddenly met the warder. There was 
only one thing to do, and he gave him a stun- 
ning blow with the crowbar before the man 
could make any outcry. 

Then he bound and gagged him, took his 
keys away, and left him lying in the passage. 
He had no further trouble in getting out of 
the palace. That done, he went to the royal 
stables, where, to his great joy, he found his 
own horse, who knew him at once and nuzzled 
against him with his nose. Above the man- 
ger hung the champion’s sword and armor. 
These he took, and led out the horse. He 
had locked all the doors behind him, and now 
he threw the keys into the courtyard well. 

Away he went straight to the city gates 
and beat on them with his sword, crying, 
“ Ho, within! ” 


124 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

A sleepy watchman came out from the 
gatehouse, very angry at being disturbed. 

“ Hurry, man! ” the champion shouted. 
“ Open the gates! The Christian knight, 
St. George, has broken out of his dungeon. 
He climbed the wall a little way hence by aid 
of a tree. Let me through! I am close on 
his heels! ” 

The man was too dazed to ask questions. 
He fumbled at the gates, muttering wrath- 
fully at the Christian prisoner for escaping 
at such an hour of night. At last he got the 
gates open, and in a moment St. George was 
outside speeding away like the wind. By the 
time the first warm beams of the sun shot up 
into the sky he had no fear of being over- 
taken. 

But he was almost famished now, and 
presently, when he saw on a cliff a little way 
ahead a huge castle, he rode toward it to ask 
for food. It proved to be the dwelling of a 
giant who had just gone forth to spend a 
short time hunting. 

St. George was allowed to enter and was 
taken to the giant’s wife. She had the serv- 


St. George and the Dragon 125 

ants bring him food and drink, but urged 
him to hurry away as soon as possible be- 
cause her husband was a man-eater. “ I am 
weary of his cruelties/ ’ she said, “ but I 
cannot prevent them. Go, Sir Knight, I beg 
you, before it is too late.” 

“No, that may not be,” St. George re- 
sponded. “ A knight cannot refuse to en- 
counter one who is an enemy of the human 
race.” 

The giantess left him and he finished his 
meal at his leisure. Scarcely was he through 
when he heard a great voice shouting rough 
commands. The giant had returned. Soon 
he entered the room where St. George was 
and said: “You are welcome, fair sir. I 
have had poor hunting today, and you will 
reward me for my vain chase. It is not often 
a man sets a snare and catches nothing, and 
reaches home to find the game all ready for 
him in the pot. Come hither and I will cut 
your head off very gently. You will not 
know it is off, so gentle will I be.” 

St. George looked at him with contempt. 
“ You are not worthy of this castle, fellow,” 


126 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

he said. “ None but a boor would offer such 
insults to a knight who claims hospitality.’ ’ 

“ I care nothing for knighthood,” the 
giant laughed. “ So no more words. You 
must die.” 

He snatched a big broad-bladed scimitar 
from the wall, and St. George drew his good 
sword, Ascalon. 

“What!” the giant roared, “you will 
fight me, you wretched little creature ? W ell, 
have your own way. A little sword-play will 
give me an appetite for you.” 

He rushed at St. George, who sprang aside 
and put the table between them. Soon one 
of the giant’s fierce strokes cut deep into the 
hard wood of an oaken chair. As he tugged 
to release his scimitar he left himself un- 
guarded for a moment, and in a flash St. 
George cut off his head. 

The champion soon resumed his journey, 
carrying with him a considerable amount of 
the giant’s treasure. He went to Egypt, 
where, to his great grief and horror, he 
learned from the same hermit he had met on 
landing, the whole story of how the King of 


St. George and the Dragon 127 

Morocco had treacherously gained the beau- 
tiful Princess of Egypt for his wife. So 
he kept on till he came to the capital of 
Morocco. 

In order to obtain a sight of Sabra he 
left his horse and armor at an inn, dis- 
guised himself as a beggar in a ragged cloak, 
and made his way to the gate of the pal- 
ace. There he found about half a hundred 
other beggars. They were on their knees 
waiting for the alms which they said the 
good Queen Sabra bestowed on them daily, 
on condition that they should pray for the 
welfare of an English knight named St. 
George to whom her heart was given when 
he was at her father’s court. 

The joy of St. George may be imagined 
when he heard these words, and he waited 
impatiently till the lovely Sabra came down 
to the gate. She was clothed in deep mourn- 
ing and her face was pale and sad. In silence 
she handed the alms to the beggars till she 
came to St. George. Then she started, and 
exclaimed: “ You have the very face of my 
gallant knight ! Eise ! You shall not kneel 


128 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

here. For the sake of him who once rescued 
me from death I will now aid you.” 

“Lady,” St. George said, “I am that 
knight who has so long lived in your mem- 
ory.” 

He showed her the ring she had given him, 
and told her the tale of Almidor’s treachery, 
and of the cruel treatment he had received 
at the hands of the Sultan of Persia. This 
greatly grieved the princess, but after weep- 
ing for a while she said: “ Let us waste no 
more time. We will fly from this detested 
place without delay. Almidor is visiting an- 
other part of his kingdom with his courtiers. 
We could not have a better opportunity to 
escape.” 

A black servant was persuaded to accom- 
pany them. He got horses for himself and 
her and the three rode away to the court of 
Greece. There they found a festival being 
celebrated, and the other six champions of 
Christendom were attending it. St. George 
and his old comrades were delighted to meet, 
and they held council together how best to 
defend the cause of their religion, for the 


St. George and the Dragon 129 

pagan monarchs of Asia and Africa had sent 
out proclamations declaring their intention 
to destroy all Christian kingdoms. 

Most of the champions had with them a 
fair lady they had rescued, and it was agreed 
that each should return to his native land to 
place the lady in safety, and to collect a 
body of fighting men. Then they would re- 
turn, every champion leading an army, and 
meet in the selfsame place prepared for 
war. 

All this they did, and the first king they 
marched against was Almidor of Morocco. 
He was speedily defeated, and was himself 
vanquished and made captive in single com- 
bat with St. George. Afterward he was led 
in chains to his capital where he was put to 
death. The nobles of Morocco were rejoiced 
to be rid of him and they made St. George 
king in the tyrant’s place. 

The champions next marched to Egypt. 
As they approached the capital they were 
met by a procession of nobles and soldiers 
who begged for mercy for themselves and 
their unfortunate country. The Christian 


130 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

knights gladly promised protection on con- 
dition that the king was surrendered. 

It was settled that he should be given up, 
but Ptolemy, who knew that he deserved no 
clemency, hastened to the top of his palace 
and threw himself down from the parapet. 
Thereupon the nobles with one accord chose 
St. George to be their king. 

The next day he was dressed in a richly- 
embroidered green robe over which was 
flung a scarlet mantle trimmed with white 
fur and decorated with ornaments of pure 
gold. In this magnificent array he was led 
to the throne, which was supported by an 
elephant of pure alabaster. The crown of 
Egypt was placed on his head, a sword and 
a scepter were handed to him, and amidst the 
shoutings of the people, the herald-at-arms 
cried out, “ Long live St. George, Champion 
of England and King of Egypt ! ” 

A splendid feast was served in a large hall 
where the ceiling was painted to look like 
the sky, and the Seven Champions were 
lodged that night in the finest rooms and fell 
asleep on beds of the softest swansdown. 


St. George and the Dragon 131 

Later they went to vanquish Persia and 
were again victorious, even though the sul- 
tan, who had kept St. George so long a pris- 
oner, was helped by a magician. The wicked 
ruler was disastrously defeated and con- 
demned to pass the remainder of his life in 
the dungeon that had been the English 
knight’s prison. 

St. George then became monarch of Per- 
sia and made his subjects happy with wise 
new laws. To each of his fellow champions 
he gave a small kingdom, and presently he 
left trusty counselors in charge of the coun- 
tries he ruled, and returned to the island of 
his birth that he might show Sabra how fair 
were the English fields and meadows around 
the ancient town of Coventry. 

There they lived peacefully for many 
years, and three sons were born to them, but 
after Sabra ’s death he and the other cham- 
pions fared forth again. As they grew old 
the brotherhood was gradually broken up, 
and St. George returned to England. When 
he arrived there he found his own beloved 
town of Coventry threatened by a wingless 


132 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

dragon that dwelt on the neighboring Duns- 
more Heath, and without hesitation he went 
to fight the beast. He killed the dragon with 
his enchanted sword, but was himself so 
badly hurt that when he had ridden to Cov- 
entry market-place he reeled in his saddle 
and fell dead. 

So ended the life of St. George, the greatest 
and bravest of all the Seven Champions 
of Christendom. 


IX 


Little Red Riding-Hood 

Once upon a time there was a little girl 
who lived in a village near a forest, and she 
was such a nice little girl that everyone was 
very fond of her. When she went anywhere 
she always wore a red riding-hood which her 
grandmother had given her. So people 
called her Little Red Riding-Hood. 

One day her mother, who had been churn- 
ing and baking, said to her: “ My dear, put 
on your red cloak with the hood to it and go 
to your grandmother’s cottage in the forest. 
I want you to see how she is, and you can take 
her some cakes and a pot of butter. I will 
pack the cakes and butter in a basket that 
you can carry on your arm.” 

133 


134 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

Little Red Riding-Hood was soon on her 
way, but she had not gone far in the forest 
when she met a wolf. 

“ Good day, little girl,” the wolf said. 

He was very polite, though at the same 
time he was wishing he could eat her. In- 
deed, that is what he would have done if he 
had not been afraid of some wood-cutters 
who were near by. 

She saluted him as politely as he had her, 
and then he asked, “ Where are you going, 
my pretty little lady? ” 

“ I am going to see my grandmother,” she 
replied, “ and I am taking her some cakes 
and a pot of butter from my mother.” 

“ Where does she live?” the wolf in- 
quired. 

“ You keep right along this road,” Little 
Red Riding-Hood told him, “ and she lives 
in the first house.” 

“ Well, good-by,” the wolf said. “ I’m 
going to be passing your grandmother’s 
house, and I will stop and let her know you 
are coming to see her.” 

So saying, off he ran. When he arrived 



The wolf speaks to Little Red Riding Hood. 






Little Red Riding-Hood 135 

at the house he went to the door and knocked 

— tap, tap ! 

He got no answer, and he knocked louder 

— slam, slam ! 

But there was no response, and after wait- 
ing a minute or two he stood on his hind legs, 
reached up one of his forepaws to the latch 
and opened the door. The grandmother was 
not at home, for she had gone to market. She 
had started early and left her bed unmade 
and her nightcap lying on the pillow. 

c 4 I know what I ’ll do, ’ ’ the wolf said ; and 
after shutting the door he put on the grand- 
mother ’s nightcap, lay down in the bed, and 
drew the covers up over himself, leaving only 
his face and front legs in sight. 

Meanwhile Little Red Riding-Hood was 
coming along the forest road. She did not 
hurry. Sometimes she stopped to pick flow- 
ers, and sometimes she paused to watch the 
butterflies flitting about, or to listen to the 
birds singing in the trees. 

But at length she reached her grandmoth- 
er’s cottage and knocked at the door — tap, 
tap I 


136 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

“ Who is there? ” the wolf asked, soften- 
ing his rough voice as much as he could. 

“ It’s me, Granny,’ ’ she replied. “ It’s 
your Little Ked Riding-Hood. Are you sick, 
Granny? Your voice is very hoarse.” 

“ I have a cold,” the wolf said, “ and I 
am not feeling well enough to get up today. 
You can press your finger on the latch and 
come in.” 

So Little Red Riding-Hood pressed her 
finger on the latch and opened the door and 
went in. 

“ Dear Granny,” she said, “ I have 
brought you some cakes and a pot of butter 
from my mamma, and I have brought you 
some flowers that I picked in the forest.” 

“ Thank you,” the wolf said. “ You can 
put your basket and the flowers on the table 
and take off your hood.” 

Little Red Riding-Hood did as he sug- 
gested and then went to the bedside. “ Oh, 
Grandmamma, Grandmamma! ” she ex- 
claimed, “ what hairy arms you have ! ” 

‘ ‘ All the better to hug you with, my dear, ’ 9 
was the wolf’s response. 


Little Red Riding-Hood 137 

“ And oh, Grandmamma, what great ears 
you have ! ” Little Red Riding-Hood said. 

“ All the better to hear you with, my 
dear,” was the wolf’s response. 

“ And oh, Grandmamma, what great eyes 
you have ! ’’Little Red Riding-Hood said. 

“ All the better to see you with, my dear,” 
was the wolf’s response, 

“ And oh, Grandmamma, what a long nose 
you have ! ” Little Red Riding-Hood said. 

“ All the better to smell the sweet flowers 
you have brought me, my dear,” was the 
wolf’s response. 

“ And oh, Grandmamma, what great white 
teeth you have! ” Little Red Riding-Hood 
said. 

“ All the better to gobble you up with! ” 
the wolf cried ; and he leaped from the bed 
toward Little Red Riding-Hood with his 
mouth wide open. 

But while the wolf and the little girl were 
talking, the grandmother had come home 
from market. Little Red Riding-Hood had 
not shut the cottage door, and when the 
grandmother was about to go in she saw the 


138 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

wolf in her bed. At once she ran to the wood- 
pile in the yard, got an ax, and hurried back 
with it. 

She was none too soon, for just as she 
rushed in at the door, the wolf sprang toward 
the little girl. But before he could seize 
her, the grandmother gave him a terrific 
blow with the ax. That killed him and the 
child was not harmed at all. 

The grandmother picked up Little Red 
Riding-Hood and kissed her. “ You dear 
child,” she said, holding her tight in her 
arms, “ how glad I am that I came in time to 
save you! ” 

When she put her down, they dragged out 
the dead wolf, tidied up the cottage, and had 
dinner. Toward the end of the day Little 
Red Riding-Hood started for home, and her 
grandmother went with her through the for- 
est till they came to the open fields. There 
they parted and the grandmother went 
back to her cottage while Little Red 
Riding-Hood ran on toward 
the village. 


X 

The Pied Piper 

Long ago there was a certain seaport 
which was reputed to be as sleepy a town as 
there was in the country of which it was a 
part, and yet for a time it was the noisiest. 
The noise was not due to the number of peo- 
ple in the place, nor to the traffic on the 
streets. It was caused by an invasion of rats. 

Such an invading horde had never been 
seen before, nor ever will be seen again. The 
place was scarcely worth living in, so in- 
fested was it by these rats. The people 
found them in their breeches or petticoats 
when they put on their clothes in the morn- 
ing, and it was nothing unusual to discover a 
rat’s nest in one’s shoes or pockets, or in 
one’s Sunday hat or bonnet. 

139 


140 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

The rats were great black creatures that 
ran boldly through the streets in broad day- 
light, and swarmed all over the houses. 
There was not a barn, nor a cornrick, nor a 
storeroom, nor a cupboard into which they 
did not gnaw their way. 

They fought the dogs and killed the cats, 

And bit the babies in the cradles, 

And ate the cheeses out of the vats, 

And licked the soup from the cook’s own 
ladles. 

Even the barrels of beer were not safe 
from them. They would gnaw a hole in a 
barrel head, and into this hole some master 
rat would thrust his tail. When he with- 
drew the tail dripping with beer, all his 
friends and relatives would crowd around, 
and each would have a suck at it. 

The rats were bad enough in the daytime, 
but they were still worse at night. Then they 
were busy everywhere — in the walls and 
ceilings, and in the rooms from cellar to gar- 
ret. There was such a chase and a scurry, 
and such a squeaking and squealing, and 


141 


The Pied Piper 

such a noise as of gimlets, pincers, and saws 
that a deaf man could not have rested for as 
much as an hour. The people could hardly 
hear themselves think, and many a mother 
felt obliged to sit up and keep watch over her 
children lest some big ugly rat should run 
across their faces. 

Cats and dogs, poison and traps were of 
no avail. Nor were prayers any more effec- 
tive. Of course many of the rats were killed. 
Yet others constantly came to take the places 
of the dead ones. 

The mayor and the town council were at 
their wits’ end. While they were sitting in 
the town hall one day racking their brains, a 
queer-looking stranger arrived in the place. 
He played the bagpipes as he tramped up 
the chief street, pausing now and then in his 
playing to sing this refrain : 

“ Ho, come and see! 

This is he — 

The ratcatcher.” 

The stranger was a tall gawky fellow with 
a swarthy skin, a crooked nose, a long mus- 


142 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

tache and piercing eyes. His broad- 
brimmed felt bat bad a scarlet cock’s feather 
stuck into its band, and there was not a color 
of the rainbow that could not be found in bis 
jacket and breeches. A leather belt girded 
his waist, and on bis feet were sandals fas- 
tened by thongs passed round bis legs. He 
stopped in the great market-place and con- 
tinued bis piping and singing. 

The town beadle heard the purport of the 
song and asked the stranger if be could rid 
the town of the rats with which it was over- 
run. 

“ Yes,” was the reply, 44 if you will make 
it worth my while.” 

At once the beadle hurried off to report 
the stranger’s words to the council. As he 
drew near to the room in which the council 
met, the mayor was saying: 44 What to do, I 
know not. My poor head aches, I’ve 
scratched it so, and all in vain.” 

Just as he said this, what should hap 
At the chamber door but a gentle tap ? 

4 4 Bless us ! ” the mayor cried, 4 4 what ’s that ? 


143 


The Pied Piper 

Anything like the sound of a rat 
Makes my heart go pit-a-pat ! ” 

Then he added in a louder voice, “ Come 
in,” and the beadle entered. 

“ Please, your honor,” the beadle said, 
“ a very queer fellow has come to town play- 
ing the bagpipes. He says he is a ratcatcher 
and that he can clear the place of rats if we 
make it worth his while.” 

u He must be a sorcerer,” the councilors 
declared with one voice. “ We shall have to 
beware of him.” 

The mayor, who was considered clever, 
reassured them. “ Sorcerer or not,” he 
said, “ if this bagpiper speaks the truth, I 
am of the opinion that it was he who sent 
us these horrible vermin in order to get 
money from us for inducing the rats to 
go away. Well, we must catch the evil- 
minded in their own snares. Leave it to 
me.” 

“ Yes, leave it to the mayor,” the council- 
ors remarked one to the other. 

“ Show the man in,” the mayor ordered, 


144 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

and the beadle soon brought the ratcatcher 
to the council room. 

“ I am called the Pied Piper,’ ’ the stran- 
ger said, “ and ratcatching is my trade. 
What would you pay me to get rid of every 
rat in the town? ” 

Much as the councilors disliked the rats, 
they disliked parting with their money still 
more, and they fain would have higgled and 
haggled. But the piper was not a man to 
stand nonsense, and the upshot of the bar- 
gaining was that they agreed to pay him at 
the rate of a penny a rat as soon as there was 
not one left to squeak or scurry in the place. 

The bagpiper announced that he would 
operate that very evening when the moon 
rose, and he requested that the inhabitants 
should leave the streets and content them- 
selves with looking out of their windows 
while he was at his task. 

When the townspeople heard of the bar- 
gain they exclaimed : “ A penny a rat ! This 
will cost us a great deal of money ! ” 

“ Leave it to the mayor,” the councilors 
said with a sly shrug of the shoulders. 


145 


The Pied Piper 

Toward nine o’clock the piper appeared 
in the market-place just as the moon began 
to show above the roofs. At once he put his 
bagpipes to his lips and began a shrill keen 
tune that penetrated to the remotest nooks 
and alleys of the town. Then a strange sight 
was seen. From every hole the rats ran to 
the market-place until it was so full of them 
that the pavement was hidden from sight. 

Presently the piper faced about, and, still 
playing briskly, went down a street that led 
toward the harbor. At his heels followed the 
rats with eager feet and upturned noses. 
Every fifty yards he stopped and gave an 
extra flourish of the pipes while he waited 
for the toddling little rats and the less vigor- 
ous older ones to catch up with those that 
were stronger. Meanwhile the townsfolk 
looked on from their windows and called 
down many a blessing on his head. 

When he reached the harbor and had 
marched to the outer end of a wharf, he 
turned about and looked at the multitude of 
rats. “ Hop, hop! ” he cried, pointing his 
finger toward the water. 


146 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

Not far from the end of the wharf a Mg 
whirlpool had formed, and the rats, obedient 
to the piper’s orders, began to leap off and 
swim straight to the center of the whirlpool, 
where they disappeared. This continued till 
midnight, when only one rat was left — a big 
rat, so old his hair had turned white — who 
dragged himself along with difficulty. He 
was the king of the band. 

“ Are they all there, friend Whitey ? ” the 
piper asked. 

“ They are all there,” Whitey replied. 

“ How many 1 ? ” the piper inquired. 

“ Nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, 
nine hundred and ninety-nine,” was the an- 
swer. 

“ Then go and join them,” the piper said. 
“ Good-by.” 

So the old rat jumped into the water, 
swam to the whirlpool, and down he went 
out of sight. 

The piper walked back into the town, 
where he went to bed at an inn ; and for the 
first time in three months the people slept 
quietly through the night. There was no 


147 


The Pied Piper 

noise to disturb them, and they slept the 
more serenely because now there was a pros- 
pect they would have a chance to enjoy some 
food that the rats had not tasted before them. 
In the morning, so jubilant were they over 
their delivery from the plague of vermin, 
that they threw up their hats and hurrahed, 
and they rang the church bells till they 
rocked the steeples. 

But at ten o’clock, when the piper went to 
the town hall to get his pay, the mayor and 
the council and the townsfolk generally be- 
gan to hum and ha, and to shake their heads, 
for where was all that money to come from? 
Besides it had been a very easy job that the 
piper had done and had only taken him a 
little while. 

“ Sirs,” the piper said, “ all your rats 
took a jump into the harbor last night, and 
I guarantee that not one of them will come 
back. There were one million, and you can 
reckon how much is due me at a penny each. ’ 9 

“ My good man,” the mayor responded, 
“ we are poor folk. Surely you will not ask 
us to pay such a sum.” 


148 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

“ I only want you to do as you agreed to 
do,” the piper told him. 

“ Ah! ” the mayor said, “ then let us de- 
termine how many rats you have destroyed. 
Have the kindness to bring them here that 
we may count them.” 

The ratcatcher did not expect such treach- 
ery. He paled with anger, and his eyes 
flashed as he cried, “If it is counting you 
care about, go and find the rats in the bottom 
of the harbor! ” 

“ There is no way of knowing what we owe 
you unless you show us the dead rats,” the 
mayor declared. “ You evidently have no 
intention of doing that. Hence we have good 
reason to refuse you all payment. But you 
have been of use to us, and we will be glad to 
recompense you to the extent of twenty 
pounds.” 

“ Keep your recompense to yourselves,” 
the ratcatcher retorted proudly. “ The best 
thing you can do is to pay me quickly all that 
is my due, for I can pipe many kinds of 
tunes, as folk sometimes find to their cost. 
Unless you pay me I ’ll be paid by your heirs. ’ ’ 


149 


The Pied Piper 

“ Do von threaten ns, yon strolling vaga- 
bond? ” the mayor shrieked. “ Begone and 
do yonr worst now that the rats are 
drowned.” 

“ Very well,” the piper said, and he pnlled 
his hat down over his eyes, tnrned abont on 
his heel and left the hall. 

The townspeople were much pleased over 
this outcome. They rubbed their hands glee- 
fully, and laughed over the ratcatcher, who, 
they said, was caught in his own trap. Above 
all they laughed at his threat of getting him- 
self paid by their heirs. ‘ 6 Ha, ha ! ” 

But when the piper reached the market- 
place he again put his pipes to his lips. This 
time there came forth no shrill notes, but a 
tune that was joyous and resonant, full of 
happy laughter and merry play. 

At the sound of the music the children all 
ran forth to the piper from cottage and man- 
sion, from schoolroom and nursery. Every 
little boy and girl in town hurried to the 
market-place, attracted by the magic har- 
mony. 

Then the stranger began to walk up a 


150 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

street that led out of the town, and the chil- 
dren followed him, dancing, laughing, and 
singing. 

Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes 
clattering, 

Little hands clapping, and little tongues 
chattering. 

On they went out of the town gate and into 
a near-by forest — a forest full of old oaks 
and wide-spreading branches. In among the 
trees trudged the piper in his many-colored 
garments, and the laughter of the children 
gradually faded away as they got deeper and 
deeper into the cool green woodland. 

Hour after hour passed, and at nightfall 
three weeping little boys came from the for- 
est to the town gate. They said that the chil- 
dren had followed the bagpiper to a moun- 
tain, which at their approach had opened a 
little, and all had gone in with the bagpiper 
except them. The opening had closed before 
they could enter. One of the three was bandy- 
legged and could not keep up with the pro- 
cession. Another fell behind because he had 



The children folloiv the pied piper 















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151 


The Pied Piper 

left home hastily, one foot shod and the other 
bare, so that he bruised the bare foot and 
lamed himself. The third might have gone 
into the mountain had he not, in his eager- 
ness, banged his head against the mountain 
wall and fallen backward. Before he could 
get up the crack closed. 

The next day the parents went to the 
mountain with pikes and mattocks, and 
searched till evening to find the opening by 
which their children had disappeared. They 
came back desolate. Nor was searching in 
future days any better rewarded. 

The most unhappy person in the town was 
the mayor. Not only had he lost a little boy 
and two pretty little girls, but the people 
overwhelmed him with reproaches, forget- 
ting that on the fatal day they had all agreed 
with him. 

He sent east, west, north, and south, to 
offer the piper, as soon as he was found, 

Silver and gold to his heart’s content, 

If he’d only return the way he went, 

And bring the children behind him. 


152 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

But never were the hearts of the towns- 
people gladdened by the sight of the piper 
and his following of singing dancing chil- 
dren issuing from the ancient oaks of the 
forest. What became of the children 
is a mystery to this day. 


XI 

Puss in Boots 

Once upon a time there was a poor miller 
who had three sons, and when he died the 
only property he left them was the mill, a 
donkey, and a cat. These were quickly di- 
vided without the help of either lawyer or 
judge. The eldest son took the mill, the sec- 
ond took the donkey, and there was nothing 
left for the youngest but the cat. 

He could not help feeling that he had been 
treated shabbily. “ My brothers will be able 
to earn a comfortable living,” he sighed, 
“ but what chance have I? Puss may feed 
himself by catching mice, yet he can’t feed 
me, and I shall certainly die of hunger.” 

While he spoke, the cat was sitting near by 

153 


154 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

and heard all he said. Immediately the crea- 
ture jumped on his shoulder, rubbed gently 
against his cheek, and began to speak. 

“ Dear master, do not grieve,” he urged. 
‘ ‘ I am not as useless as you think. If you will 
get me a bag, and supply me with a pair of 
boots so I can scamper through the brush 
and brambles, I promise to make your for- 
tune.” 

The lad had very little money, but he knew 
Puss was a faithful creature, and he had 
seen him play many cunning tricks to catch 
rats and mice. Therefore he did not alto- 
gether despair of getting some help from 
him, and he bought him a smart pair of boots 
made of buff-colored leather and got him the 
bag for which he had asked. 

Puss drew on the boots, and then he fitted 
slip-strings around the mouth of the bag, put 
some bran and parsley inside, and went off 
to a neighboring hillside carrying the bag 
over his shoulders. After laying it on the 
ground with the mouth propped open, he hid 
in the ferns and bushes and waited. 

Every pleasant day he went hunting in 


Puss in Boots 


155 


this manner, and when a rabbit or a par- 
tridge tried to get some of the bran and 
parsley — snap! the cat drew the slip- 
strings, and there was some game for his 
master to eat. 

One morning two rabbits happened to rush 
into the bag at the same time. Then Puss 
slung the bag over his shoulder, and away he 
went to the royal palace where he asked to 
speak to the king. 

The guards ushered him into his Majes- 
ty’s presence, and Puss made a low bow and 
lifted the rabbits out of his bag. “ Sir,” he 
said, “ I have been commanded by my noble 
lord, the Marquis of Carabas” (this was the 
title he chose to confer on his master), “ to 
present these rabbits to your Majesty with 
his respects.” 

The king was very fond of stewed rabbit, 
and he said, “ Tell your master that I thank 
him and that he has given me great pleas- 
ure.” 

Then he dismissed Puss with many com- 
pliments and a purse of gold. Afterward he 
summoned his cook and ordered him to serve 


156 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

the rabbits for dinner so he and his daughter 
might enjoy them. 

Time went on, and Puss not only kept his 
master well supplied with game, but often 
had a surplus which he carried to the king. 
Whatever he presented at the palace was sure 
to be accompanied with the message, “ From 
my lord, the Marquis of Carabas.” All the 
gentry at court were talking of this strange 
nobleman, whom none of them had seen, yet 
who sent such generous gifts to his Majesty. 

By and by Puss decided that it was time 
for his master to be introduced at court. He 
learned that on a certain day the king and 
his daughter, who was the most beautiful 
princess in the world, were to drive in their 
coach along the riverside. As quickly as 
possible he went to his master. 

“ Now,” he said, “ your fortune shall be 
made without further delay, if you will fol- 
low my advice. Go and bathe in the river 
at a spot which I will show you, and leave the 
rest to me.” 

The young man knew nothing of the why 
or wherefore of the cat’s words, but he went 



Puss-in- Boots stops the king's coach. 



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Puss in Boots 


157 


to the river, and Puss took charge of his 
clothes while he plunged in. He did not en- 
joy the experience, for the water was cold, 
and he soon stopped splashing around and 
stood shivering with the water up to his neck, 
wondering what was to happen next. 

Just then the king’s carriage drawn by 
four horses appeared in sight, and Puss 
promptly began to shout : i 6 Help, help ! My 
lord, the Marquis of Carabas, is drowning ! ” 

The king put his head out of the coach 
window and recognized Puss as the cat 
who had so frequently brought him pres- 
ents of game. Immediately he ordered 
his attendants to go to the assistance of 
the marquis. 

While they were pulling the youth out of 
the river, the cat went up to the coach and 
told the king that some rogue had gone off 
with his master’s clothes, though in fact the 
cunning cat had hidden them under a big flat 
stone. 

On hearing this story the king dispatched 
one of his grooms to fetch a handsome suit of 
purple and gold from the royal wardrobe. 


158 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

When the young man had been arrayed in 
this he looked so well that no one for a mo- 
ment supposed but that he was some noble 
lord. The king and his daughter were so 
pleased with his appearance that they in- 
vited him into their carriage to ride with 
them. 

The marquis hesitated, but Puss whis- 
pered that it would be all right if he only 
didn’t speak much while on the journey. So 
in he got, although he could not help feeling 
a little shy about sitting next to a princess. 
But she smiled at him so sweetly and was so 
kind and gentle that he soon forgot his fears. 
As for her own feeling, after he had cast two 
or three respectful and somewhat tender 
glances in her direction, she fell in love with 
him to distraction. 

When the cat saw his master seated in the 
royal carriage he was overjoyed to think how 
well his project was succeeding. But there 
was more for him to do, and he ran on ahead 
as fast as he could trot until he came to a field 
of grain where some laborers were busy 
reaping. 


Puss in Boots 


159 


“ Eeapers L” Puss said fiercely, “ the king 
will soon pass this way in his carriage. If 
he should ask you to whom this field belongs, 
remember that you are to reply, 6 To the 
Marquis of Carabas.’ Don’t dare to disobey 
me, or the guards who ride before and be- 
hind the carriage will cut you in pieces with 
their swords.” 

This frightened the reapers, and they 
promised to say that or anything else he 
wanted said. Puss then ran on and told all 
the other reapers along the wayside to give 
the same answer, declaring that if they did 
not they would be terribly punished by the 
royal guards for their disobedience. 

The king was in excellent humor, for the 
day was fine, and he found the marquis a 
pleasant companion. So he ordered the 
coachman to drive slowly that he might ad- 
mire the beautiful country. 

“ What a splendid field of wheat! ” he 
remarked presently, and he had the coach 
stop while he hailed the reapers, saying, 
“ Who is the owner of this field ? ” 

They replied in accord with the cat’s com- 


160 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

mand, “ It belongs to our lord, the Marquis 
of Carabas.” 

The king turned to the marquis and said, 
“ I did not know that you had estates so near 
us.” 

And the young man responded, “ I had 
forgotten it myself.” 

The coach went on until it encountered a 
herd of cattle. “ To whom do these cattle 
belong? ” the king asked the drovers. 

“ To the Marquis of Carabas,” they an- 
swered. 

It was the same all along the way. The 
king’s inquiries as to the ownership of prop- 
erty received this uniform reply. The mar- 
quis listened with the greatest astonishment, 
but he knew very well that this was the cat’s 
doing. 4 ‘ What a wonderful creature Puss in 
Boots is ! ” he thought. 

At the same time the king was thinking, 
“ How nice it is to find that this new friend 
of ours is as wealthy as he is charming ! ” 

Meanwhile Puss, who was well in advance 
of the royal party, had arrived at a stately 
castle which belonged to a cruel ogre, the 


Puss in Boots 


161 


richest ever known. Indeed, he was the 
owner of all the land and cattle the king had 
admired so much. The cat knocked at the 
door, and a servant conducted him into the 
presence of the master of the castle. 

The ogre had never seen a cat in boots be- 
fore, and the sight amused him. They began 
chatting together, and presently Puss said, 
“ I have heard that you possess the power 
to change yourself into any kind of an ani- 
mal you choose — a horse or an elephant, for 
instance.’ ’ 

“ Well, so I can,” the ogre responded 
briskly. 

“ Dear me! ” Puss said, “ how much I 
should like to see you make such a change 
now.” 

The ogre was only too glad to show how 
clever he was, and he agreed to transform 
himself into any animal Puss might mention. 

“ Oh! I will leave the choice to you,” the 
cat said politely. 

No sooner were the words uttered than 
there appeared, in place of the ogre, an enor- 
mous lion, lashing with his tail and roaring 


162 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

as if he meant to gobble up the cat in a 
trice. 

Puss was really very much frightened, and 
he jumped out of a window and managed to 
scramble up on the roof, though not without 
abundance of trouble and danger because of 
his boots. There he clung, refusing to come 
down, until the ogre resumed his natural 
form and laughingly called to him that he 
would do him no harm. 

Then Puss ventured back into the room 
and complimented the ogre on his marvelous 
power. In conclusion he said: “ Although 
what you did was very amazing, it would be 
still more remarkable if you, who are so big 
and fierce, could transform yourself into 
some timid little creature such as a mouse. 
That, I suppose, would be impossible.’ ’ 

“ Not at all,” the ogre declared. “ One is 
quite as easy to me as the other, and I will 
prove it to you.” 

A moment later the ogre had vanished and 
a little mouse was frisking about the floor. 

u Now or never! ” Puss said, and with a 
sudden leap he seized the mouse and ate it. 


Puss in Boots 


163 


The wicked ogre had been holding many 
ladies and gentlemen in his castle under a 
spell. When he was destroyed they were 
instantly disenchanted, and they came to ex- 
press their gratitude to their deliverer. 

“ We are ready to do anything to please 
you/’ they told him, and at his request they 
agreed to enter his master’s service. 

Puss now had a splendid castle with much 
treasure stored in its vaults, and he ordered 
a magnificent feast to be prepared. Then he 
hurried forth to the highway and met the 
king’s coach. 

His Majesty was looking toward the ogre’s 
castle. “ Whose is it? ” he asked. “ I have 
never seen a finer one. ’ ’ 

“ It belongs to the noble Marquis of Cara- 
bas, ’ ’ Puss replied ; ‘ ‘ and I beg you to honor 
my master by being his guest. ’ ’ 

The king ordered the coachman to drive to 
the castle, and Puss went on ahead and threw 
open the gates. As the carriage was cross- 
ing the drawbridge he cried out, “ Welcome 
to the castle of my lord, the Marquis of 
Carabas! ” 


164 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

His Majesty turned to the marquis, and 
said, “ Not even my own palace can surpass 
the beauty of your castle.’ ’ 

Puss helped him to alight and conducted 
him to a spacious hall while the marquis fol- 
lowed with the princess. A group of ladies 
and gentlemen was waiting to receive the 
new arrivals, and after the greetings were 
over they all sat down to a splendid banquet. 

Long and merrily they feasted, and when 
at length the king rose to depart, he em- 
braced the marquis, saying: “ The castle 
which is your home impresses me pro- 
foundly, and so does the splendor of your 
hospitality. I am charmed, too, with your 
many excellent qualities, and it will be your 
own fault, my dear Marquis, if you are not 
my son-in-law.” 

The marquis made several low bows, and 
thanked his Majesty for the honor he con- 
ferred on him. Not long afterward the mil- 
ler’s son married the princess, and there 
were rejoicings throughout the land. 

On the evening of the wedding day a great 
ball was given, to which came princes and 


Puss in Boots 


165 


nobles from near and far. Puss opened the 
ball, wearing for the occasion a pair of boots 
made of the finest leather, with gold tassels 
and scarlet heels. I wish you could have 
seen him. 

When the old king died, the princess and 
her husband reigned in his stead. Their 
most honored and faithful friend at court 
was Puss in Boots, for his master always re- 
membered to whom he owed all his good for- 
tune. 

Puss lived on the daintiest meat and the 
most delicious cream. He was petted and 
made much of all the days of his life, and he 
never ran after rats and mice except 
for exercise and amusement. 


xn 

Tom Thumb 

In the days of good King Arthur lived the 
famous wizard, Merlin. Never before nor 
since has there been his equal. 

Once, when he was traveling dressed like 
a beggar, he stopped about sundown to ask 
for food at the cottage of a poor plowman. 
He was given a friendly welcome, and the 
plowman’s wife not only supplied him with 
a big bowl of milk and some brown bread, 
but said he might stay through the night. 

That evening as he sat with her and her 
husband in the tidy comfortable kitchen he 
noticed that neither seemed happy, and he 
asked why. 

“ Ah! ” the woman sighed, “ we cannot 
166 


Tom Thumb 


167 


help being sad, for we have no children. All 
the evening I spin and spin, and my husband 
sits in the chimney corner and pokes the fire. 
How dull it is ! ” 

“ Yes,” the plowman agreed, “ our house 
is very quiet, while other people’s houses are 
noisy and merry.” 

“ Sir,” the woman said to Merlin, “ we 
should be content if we had a child, even 
though it were no bigger than my thumb.” 

“ You are quite right, my dear wife,” the 
husband commented. 

“ That would be a strange kind of child,” 
Merlin said, “ but I hope you may have your 
wish.” 

The next day off he went to call on the 
queen of the fairies. He repeated to her the 
words of the plowman’s wife, and the droll 
fancy of a child no bigger than a person’s 
thumb so tickled her that she promised to 
grant the good woman’s wish. 

Some time afterward a boy was born at the 
plowman’s cottage, and he was just the size 
of his mother’s thumb. 

“ He is exactly what we asked for,” his 


168 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

parents said, “ and we will love him very 
much.” 

They decided that Tom Thumb should be 
his name. He was given plenty to eat and 
drink, but he never grew any bigger. How- 
ever, he was healthy and strong, and he had 
quick wits so that he got along for the most 
part very well, in spite of his small size. 

His first serious mishap occurred one day 
when he climbed to the top of a fireplace 
andiron. The wind blowing in the open door 
lifted him from where he stood and whisked 
him up the black chimney. He soon came 
out at the top and was wafted off across the 
fields. 

When at last he floated down to the 
ground, a strange house was in sight, and he 
said: “ I am so far from home that I will 
not try to return at present. I think I had 
better go to the house yonder and ask for 
work.” 

This he did. A woman named Ann Brown 
lived in the house. She hired him, but the 
food he received from her was very poor, 
and after a while he complained to her about 


Tom Thumb 169 

it. That made her angry, and she declared 
she would punish him. 

He started to run, and she shouted, “ Stop, 
you little grasshopper! ” 

But Tom did not stop. He climbed up a 
table leg and popped under a teacup. She 
saw where he had gone and she lifted the 
cup. However, before she could lay hands 
on him, he slipped through a crack in the 
table into a drawer and called out to her, 

“ Hey, hey! there, Mistress Ann, 

Now catch me if you can! ” 

For a while he was able to avoid her 
clutches, but in the end she caught him and 
turned him out of the house. Then he set off 
for home, which he reached safely — and 
very glad he was to be there. 

Several months later Tom was playing 
about on the kitchen table when his mother 
was making a batter pudding. She had to 
leave the pudding for a few minutes, and in 
this interval he climbed up on the edge of the 
dish, lost his footing and fell in head first. 
He went into the batter all over, and his 


170 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

mother did not know what had become of 
him. 

Soon she transferred the pudding to a bag 
which she put into a kettle of hot water hung 
over the fire. When Tom began to feel the 
heat he kicked so that the pudding danced 
about in the kettle like mad. 

His mother noticed the strange behavior 
of the pudding and was nearly frightened 
out of her senses. She thought it was be- 
witched. So she took the kettle and poured 
pudding and all into the yard. 

Presently a tinker who happened to be 
passing that way saw the pudding and 
picked it up. He imagined he would have 
the pleasure of eating the best dinner he had 
enjoyed for a long time. But as he was go- 
ing over a stile he sneezed, and Tom, who 
hitherto had remained silent, cried out, 
“ Hello, Pickens! ” 

The tinker was so terrified to hear a voice 
from the pudding that he threw it down and 
scampered away as fast as he could go. 
Luckily for Tom, the pudding string broke 
and he crept out of the bag all covered with 


Tom Thumb 


171 


half -cooked batter. Then he hurried home 
to his mother who was feeling much alarmed 
over his disappearance. She gave him a 
thorough washing in a saucer of water, 
kissed him, and tucked him up in bed. 

On another day Tom’s father made ready 
to go to the forest to cut wood. “ My dear,” 
he said to his wife, “ I shall be gone until 
evening, and I wish you would bring the cart 
to me this afternoon.” 

“ Isn’t that just like a man? ” she re- 
torted. . “ I have plenty of work of my 
own to do without driving Dobbin to the 
woods.” 

“ I can bring the cart to you, father,” Tom 
announced. 

His father laughed and said: “ How 
would you manage to drive ? You are much 
too little to hold the reins.” 

“ That has nothing to do with it,” Tom 
declared. ‘ ‘ Mother can put me in one of the 
horse’s ears and I will tell the horse where 
to go.” 

After the plowman had talked the matter 
over with his wife, he said, “ Well, Tom, we 


172 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

will try your plan.” Then he tramped off 
into the forest. 

As soon as it was time for Tom to start, his 
mother hitched Dobbin to the cart, set Tom 
in one of the horse’s ears, and resumed her 
work. Tom drove off, crying, “ Gee-up, 
gee- wo! ” 

The horse went along the road quite as if 
its master were driving, and drew the cart 
into the forest. While on the way, two 
strange men chanced to meet the cart, and 
they heard Tom calling to the horse. 

“ How is this?” one of them said. 
“ There goes a cart, and the driver is call- 
ing to the horse, yet he is nowhere to be 
seen.” 

“ It is very queer,” the other responded. 
“ I think we had better follow the cart and 
see where the journey will end.” 

So they followed the cart into the woods 
until it came to the place where Tom’s father 
was at work. They did not wish to be seen, 
and had just hidden behind some bushes when 
they heard Tom call: “Look, father, here I 
am with the cart. Now take me down.” 


Tom Thumb 


173 


The plowman lifted his little son out of the 
horse’s ear and put him on a stump. There 
Tom sat, happy and contented, looking on 
while his father worked. 

As for the two strangers, they were struck 
dumb with wonder at sight of a human 
being so very small. Finally one of them 
whispered to the other: “ That little chap 
would make our fortune if we were to show 
him in the cities for money. We must man- 
age to carry him away with us.” 

Soon the father began to load the cart. 
While he was busy at that task, one of the 
strangers slipped up behind Tom, threw 
his handkerchief over him, and thrust him 
into his pocket. Then the two men hurried 
off. 

Tom’s quarters were by no means comfort- 
able, for the pocket contained a foul-smell- 
ing tobacco pipe, hard bits of bread and 
cheese, and other things not to his liking. 
He was glad when the men concluded they 
had gone far enough to feel safe from pur- 
suit, and stopped to take him out of the 
handkerchief and have a look at him. They 


174 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

soon prepared to go on and were wrapping 
him in the handkerchief again, when Tom 
begged them not to do so. 

“ Please, sir,” he said, speaking to the 
man who held him, 4 ‘ put me on the brim 
of your hat. It will make a good gallery 
for me. I can walk about and view the 
country while you are proceeding on your 
journey.” 

They granted his wish and traveled 
along until it grew dusk, when they paused 
to rest. Then they took Tom off the hat- 
brim and set him on the ground. Not far 
away he spied a mouse-hole, and he made a 
sudden run and jumped into it. 

“ G-ood-by, my masters,” he cried, looking 
out of the hole. “ You can go off without me 
now.” 

They hurried toward him and he crawled 
down out of sight. With their canes they 
poked about in the mouse-hole, but in vain. 
Tom crept farther and farther in, and, as 
night was coming on, the men had to make 
the best of their way home empty-handed. 

By and by Tom crept up to the mouth of 


Tom Thumb 


175 


the mouse-hole and looked out. All was dark 
and quiet, but soon he heard the footsteps of 
three men approaching on the road. 

The men were talking, and just as they 
came opposite him one said to the other, 
“ How can we contrive to get the rich par- 
son’s gold and silver from his treasure-room 
with its iron barred window? ” 

“ I can tell you,” Tom called out. 

The thieves were frightened and stopped 
to listen. “ I thought I heard somebody 
speak,” one of them said. 

Then Tom called out again, saying: “ It 
was I. Take me with you and I will show 
you how to get that money.” 

“ Where are you? ” they asked. 

“ Look about on the ground and notice 
where my voice comes from,” he responded. 

At last they found him and lifted him up. 
“ You little elf! ” they said, “ how can you 
help us? ” 

“ Why, I can easily creep between the 
iron bars of the treasure-room window and 
hand out to you whatever you would like to 
have,” he replied. 


176 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

‘ i Very well, ’ 9 they said, ‘ 4 we will see what 
you can do.” 

They took him along, and when they came 
to the parsonage he slipped into the room 
where the money was kept. Then he shouted 
with all his might, “Will you have all that 
is here? ” 

The thieves were terrified by the noise he 
made, and they said, “ Do speak more softly 
lest someone be awakened.” 

But Tom pretended he did not hear them, 
and he called at the top of his voice, “ What 
shall I hand out first — the spoons or the 
ladles? ” 

This time the butler heard him and came 
downstairs from his chamber to the treas- 
ure-room carrying a lantern and his blun- 
derbus. The thieves got away as fast as they 
could, and when the butler was coming in 
Tom slipped out of the door without being 
seen or heard. 

After the butler had looked in every nook 
and corner without finding the least sign of 
intruders he went back to bed, thinking he 
had been dreaming. 


Tom Thumb 


177 


Tom took himself off to the barn and lay 
down to sleep on a nice cozy bed of hay, in- 
tending to go home to his father and mother 
as soon as day came. But the maid, whose 
business it was to take care of the cows, got 
up at dawn to feed them. She went to the 
barn and picked Tom up with an armful of 
hay which she put in one of the mangers. 

Tom was so sound asleep that this did not 
wake him, and he never opened his eyes until 
he was in the mouth of a cow that had taken 
him up with some hay. ‘ ‘ O dear ! ’ ’ he cried, 
“ how is it that I have gotten into a milH ” 

But he was not long in discovering that 
instead of being in a mill he was in a cow’s 
mouth. He was careful not to get between 
the creature’s teeth. Soon the cow swal- 
lowed him, and down he went into her 
stomach. 

“ The windows were forgotten when this 
little room was built,” he said. “ No sun- 
shine can get in here. I wish I had a can- 
dle.” 

He found his situation in every way 
unpleasant, and the worst of his troubles was 


178 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

that more hay was constantly coming in. 
The space kept filling up, and finally he cried 
out as loud as he could: “ No more hay for 
me! No more hay for me! ” 

The maid had begun milking the cow. She 
heard a voice, but could see no one, and she 
was so frightened that she fell off the milk- 
stool and upset the milk-pail. As soon as 
she could get up she ran to the parson in the 
house and exclaimed: “ Oh, master dear, the 
red cow talks ! She is bewitched. ’ ’ 

“ You must be crazy,’ ’ was the parson’s 
comment, and he went to the barn to see what 
was the matter. 

Scarcely had he set foot inside the door 
when Tom Thumb cried out again: “ No 
more hay for me ! No more hay for me ! ” 

Then the parson himself was frightened. 
He thought an evil spirit must have entered 
into the cow, and he ordered that she should 
be killed. This was done, and the hide and 
the parts that were good for meat were 
saved, while the stomach and some other por- 
tions were thrown out on a refuse heap in 
the barnyard. 


Tom Thumb 


179 


Tom worked as hard as he could to make 
a hole through the thick wall of his prison. 
At last he succeeded in getting his head 
out, and he said, “ I shall soon be free 
now.” 

But night had come again, and before 
Tom could escape, a hungry wolf stole 
into the barnyard. The wolf went straight 
to the cow’s stomach and began eating it. 
With one of his mouthfuls he gulped Tom 
down. 

Tom did not lose courage, for he thought, 
“ Perhaps this wolf will listen to reason and 
I can contrive to make him of some use to 
me.” 

So he cried out from inside the savage 
creature, “ My dear wolf, I can tell you 
where to get a splendid meal — much better 
than you are eating here.” 

“ Where is it to be had? ” the wolf asked. 

Tom described his father’s house, and 
added : “ By creeping through the drain you 
can get into the storeroom. There you will 
find cakes, and bacon, and beef — as much 
as you can eat.” 


180 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

The wolf did not need to be told twice. 
He ran all the way to the plowman’s cottage, 
squeezed himself through the drain, and 
feasted on the good things in the storeroom 
to his heart’s content. Not until it began to 
grow light with the approach of day did he 
stop eating. 

Then the wolf wanted to go to his home 
in the forest, but he had so stuffed himself 
that he was too big to creep out the same 
way he had come in. This was what Tom 
had reckoned on, and he began to make a 
terrible din inside of the wolf, screeching 
and shouting with all his might. 

“ Do be quiet,” the wolf said. “ You 
will wake up the folks.” 

“ Look here,” the little fellow responded, 
“ you are very well satisfied with the food 
that I told you how to get. Now you have 
had your frolic, and I want to do something 
for my own enjoyment.” 

Then he resumed his racket, and presently 
his father and mother were aroused. They 
ran to the storeroom door, peeped through a 
chink, and saw the wolf. It seemed best to 


Tom Thumb 


181 


get weapons before they went farther. So 
the man armed himself with an ax, and the 
woman secured a scythe. 

“ Stay behind/ ’ he said as they entered 
the storeroom. “ I will give the wolf the 
first blow. If that does not finish him you 
strike with your scythe.’ ’ 

Tom Thumb heard his father’s voice, and 
cried, “ Dear father, I am here in this 
wolf! ” 

“ Thank Heaven! ” the father exclaimed 
joyfully. “ We have found our child. 
Wife, don’t use your scythe lest you should 
hurt him with it.” 

Then he drew near to the wolf and struck 
him such a blow on the head with his ax that 
the creature fell down dead. Afterward the 
man took a knife and quickly released the 
little lad inside. 

“ Oh, how worried we have been about 
you! ” the father said. 

“ We had no idea what had become of 
you,” his mother added. 

“ Well,” Tom said, “ it seems very pleas- 
ant to breathe fresh air again.” 


182 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

“ Where have you been all the time that 
you have been gone?” his parents asked. 

“ Oh! ” Tom replied, “ I have been in a 
mouse-hole, and in a cow’s stomach, and in- 
side of a wolf. Now I think I will stay at 
home.” 

“ We hope you will, ’ ’ his parents declared, 
kissing and hugging him. 

Afterward they gave him something to eat 
and drink, and his mother went to work to 
make him a new suit of clothes. 

Several months later his father made him 
a whip out of a barley straw and had him 
help drive the cows to pasture. Then he 
took him to a field where he went to plowing 
while Tom amused himself to suit his own 
fancy. Presently, as the lad was trying to 
climb a furrow’s ridge, which to him was a 
steep hill, he slipped down and lay half 
stunned. 

A crow that happened to be flying over 
thought he was a frog and picked h im up in- 
tending to eat him. It carried him to the 
top of a giant’s castle that was on the bor- 
ders of the sea and there alighted to have a 



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Tom Thumb 


183 


feast. But it did not relish the morsel when 
it had a good look at Tom. So it flew away 
and left him. 

He was very much distressed, and while he 
was thinking what to do, old Grumbo, the 
giant, came up to walk on the parapet. 
When he saw Tom, he took him up at once 
and started to swallow him like a pill. 

But no sooner had the giant got Tom in 
his mouth than he began to repent of his 
intention, for the little fellow kicked and 
jumped about so much that the giant leaned 
over the parapet and spat him out into the sea. 

The moment Tom splashed into the water 
a big fish, which mistook him for a shrimp, 
gulped him down. He was too small to sat- 
isfy the creature’s appetite, and the fish 
swam along until it chanced to see a baited 
hook. The bait was so tempting that the fish 
bit at it and was caught. 

A fisherman pulled the fish out of the 
water and soon afterward went off with it to 
market. There it was purchased for the 
table of King Arthur. 

When the servants opened the fish in order 


184 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

to prepare it for cooking they were greatly 
astonished to find Tom inside. N ever before 
had they seen a human being so small. They 
carried him to the king, who took him into 
his service and sent word to his father and 
mother that he was safe at the royal castle. 

One day the king had Tom accompany him 
to his treasury where he kept all his money, 
and said, “ You can have as much as you can 
carry home to your parents. ” 

So the little fellow picked out a silver 
three-penny piece, and the king had a purse 
made for it. With some difficulty Tom lifted 
the burden on to his back and set forward on 
his journey. He had to rest himself more 
than a hundred times by the way, but in two 
days he reached his father’s house safely, 
though almost tired to death with carrying 
the huge silver piece. 

About a week afterward, when he had re- 
covered from his fatigue, he returned to 
court, where he became a great favorite ; for 
by his tricks and gambols he amused not 
only the king and queen, but all the knights 
of the Bound Table. 


Tom Thumb 


185 


The king often took Tom with him when 
he rode out on horseback, and if there was a 
shower Tom would creep into his Majesty’s 
waistcoat pocket and sleep till the rain was 
over. 

So pleased was the king with Tom that at 
length he knighted him, and the little man 
was known as Sir Thomas Thumb. Sir 
Thomas was given a tame mouse, which was 
fitted with a saddle and bridle and served 
him for a horse. 

Once, as he was riding on his mouse 
past a farmhouse, a cat suddenly sprang 
forth from some lurking-place. She seized 
both rider and steed and ran up a tree 
with them. Then Tom boldly drew his 
sword, which had been made for him out of 
a needle, and assailed the cat so fiercely that 
she was glad to release her prey and get be- 
yond the reach of the sword-thrusts. 

The king and his knights were more fond 
than ever of Tom after this exploit. But 
presently the queen became jealous on ac- 
count of the honor paid to Sir Thomas, and 
she told the king that he had been saucy to her. 


186 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

King Arthur sent for Tom in great haste. 
However, the little man was fully aware of 
the dangers of royal anger, and he crept into 
an empty snail shell. There he lay hiding 
for a long time until he was almost starved. 

When at last he ventured to look out, he 
saw the mouse that he used for a horse run- 
ning about trying to find him. So he put 
on its saddle and bridle, jumped on its back, 
and returned to the court. 

Everyone was glad to see him except the 
queen, who insisted that he must be pun- 
ished. To please her, the king had him im- 
prisoned in a mouse-trap, where he remained 
for several days tormented by a cat which 
thought him some new kind of mouse and 
spent her time clawing at him through the 
bars. 

When he was released he noticed a fine 
large butterfly on a dandelion close by, and 
by making a quick leap he got astride of it. 
At once the butterfly went off, flitting from 
tree to tree and from flower to flower. 

The royal gardener saw it and gave chase, 
and soon the nobles and the king joined in 


Tom Thumb 


187 


the hunt. Finally the queen forgot her 
anger and ran hither and thither with the 
rest. They were almost expiring when Tom, 
dizzy with so much fluttering and flittering, 
fell from his seat into a watering-pot. He 
narrowly escaped drowning, and when he 
was fished out all agreed that he deserved to 
be forgiven and taken back into favor. 

Tom had not been at liberty long when a 
large spider attacked him as he was walking 
in the garden. He fought the creature most 
valiantly with his sword, yet at last the 
spider overcame and killed him. 

So sorry were the king and his whole court 
at the loss of their little favorite that they 
raised over his grave a fine white marble 
monument on which were engraved these 
lines : 

“ Here lies Tom Thumb, King Arthur’s 
knight, 

Who died by a spider’s cruel bite. 

Wipe, wipe your eyes, and shake your 
head, 

And cry, ‘ Alas! Tom Thumb is dead.’ ” 


XIII 

Beauty and the Beast 

There was once a wealthy merchant who 
had six children, three of whom were sons 
and the other three daughters. Although he 
was rich, he loved his children more than he 
loved his riches, and he was always trying 
to make them happy. 

The three daughters were very handsome, 
hut the youngest was more attractive than 
either of the others. While she was little 
she was called Beauty, and after she grew 
up people continued to call her by that name. 
She was as good as she was beautiful, and 
when not engaged with her books, of which 
she was very fond, she was busy doing every- 
thing she could to make her father’s home 
pleasant for him. 

The older sisters were proud of their 
188 


189 


Beauty and the Beast 

riches, and it suited them better to get diver- 
sion by driving in the parks and attending 
balls, operas, and plays, than to read books 
for entertainment and instruction. 

Presently misfortune began to overtake 
the merchant in his business. Storms at sea 
destroyed his ships, and fire burned his ware- 
houses. One evening he came home and said 
to his family: “ My riches are gone. I have 
nothing left that I can call my own except 
a little farm far off in the country. To that 
little farm we all must go now and earn our 
daily living with our hands. ” 

The daughters wept at the idea of leading 
such a different life. “We will not go ! ” the 
older two declared. “We have plenty of 
friends who will invite us to stay in the city. ” 
But they were mistaken. Their friends, 
who were numerous when the family was 
rich,' now kept away. 

“ Of course we are sorry for the merchant 
and his family,’ ’ these friends said one to 
another ; ‘ 4 but we have cares of our own, and 
we really couldn’t be expected to help them. 
If those two older girls are having their 


190 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

pride humbled, it is no more than they de- 
serve. Let them go and give themselves aris- 
tocratic airs milking the cows and working 
in the dairy, and see how they like it.” 

As soon as the merchant could settle his 
affairs, the family went to live on the little 
farm in the country. He and his sons plowed 
and sowed the fields, and Beauty rose at five 
o’clock every morning to get breakfast for 
them. After the breakfast things were out 
of the way there was other housework that 
took her attention, and when nothing else 
needed doing she would sit at her spinning- 
wheel, singing as she spun, or perhaps would 
take a little time for reading. The work was 
hard at first, yet she soon found it enjoyable 
and her eyes were brighter and her cheeks 
more rosy than ever before. 

Her sisters did not change their habits so 
easily, and they were wretched, for they 
were always thinking of the wealth they had 
lost. They lay in bed till ten o’clock, and 
they did very little work after they were up. 
Most of their time was spent in sauntering 
around and complaining. 


191 


Beauty and the Beast 

A year passed, and then the merchant re- 
ceived word that a ship of his, which he had 
believed to be lost, had come safely into port 
with a rich cargo. This news nearly turned 
the heads of the two older daughters. They 
fancied that now it would not be long before 
they could leave the little farm and return 
to the gay city. When their father made 
ready to go to the port to attend to the un- 
loading and sale of the ship’s cargo, they 
begged him to buy them new gowns and hats 
and all manner of trinkets. 

“ And what shall I bring you, Beauty? ” 
the merchant asked. 

“ The only thing I wish for is to see you 
come safely home,” she answered. 

“ I am pleased that you are so much con- 
cerned over my welfare,” he said, “ but that 
makes me want all the more to bring you a 
present from the city. What shall it be? ” 

“ Well, dear father,” she responded, “ as 
you insist, I would like to have you bring me 
a rose, for I have not seen one since we came 
here.” 

The good merchant set out on his journey, 


192 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

but when he reached the port, he found that 
a former partner had taken charge of the 
ship ’s goods and disposed of them. The man 
insisted on keeping the money he had re- 
ceived, and the merchant was obliged to sue 
for it in the courts. But, though the case was 
decided in his favor, what he recovered 
barely paid the costs. 

So, at the end of six months of trouble and 
expense, he started for his little farm as 
poor as when he came. He traveled day 
after day until he was within thirty miles of 
home. Then, as he was thinking of the pleas- 
ure he would have in seeing his children 
again, he lost his way in a great forest 
through which he had to pass. 

Night came on cold and rainy, and he grew 
faint with hunger. But presently he saw 
lights some way off shining through the 
trees. He turned his horse toward them 
and soon came into a long avenue of great 
oaks. This led to a splendid palace that was 
lighted from top to bottom. . 

Yet when the merchant rode into the court- 
yard no one met him, and when he hallooed 


193 


Beauty and the Beast 

he received no answer. His horse kept on 
toward an open stable door, and the mer- 
chant put the creature in a stall where there 
was a manger full of hay and oats. 

Then he went to the palace and entered a 
large hall. There he found a good fire and 
a table plentifully set with food, but not a 
soul did he see. 

While he stood by the fire drying himself, 
he said: “ How fortunate I am to find such 
shelter ! I should have perished this stormy 
night out in the forest ! But I can ’t imagine 
where the people of this palace can be. I 
hope its master will excuse the liberty I have 
taken.” 

He waited for some time, and the clock 
struck eleven. No one came, and then, weak 
for want of food, he sat down at the table 
and ate heartily. Yet all the while he 
was fearful that he was trespassing and 
might be severely dealt with for his pre- 
sumption. 

After he finished eating, he felt less timid, 
and concluded he would look for a chamber. 
So he left the hall and passed through sev- 


194 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

eral splendid rooms till he came to one in 
which was a comfortable bed. There he 
spent the night. 

On awaking the following morning he 
was surprised to find a new suit of clothes 
laid out for him on a chair by the bedside. 
It was marked with his name, and in each 
pocket were ten gold pieces. His own 
clothes, which were much the worse for wear 
and had been wet through by the storm, had 
disappeared. 

“ Surely,” he said, “ this palace belongs 
to some kind fairy who has seen and pitied 
my distress.” 

In the hall where he had supped the pre- 
vious night he found his breakfast on the 
table, and after he had eaten he went out 
into a great garden full of beautiful flowers 
and shrubbery. As he walked along he 
passed under a bower of roses. 

“ Oh! ” he exclaimed, stopping, “ I had 
no money when I left the city to buy the gifts 
my older daughters asked for, and my mind 
has been so full of my troubles that I have 
not thought of the rose which Beauty wanted 


Beauty and the Beast 195 

until this moment. She shall have one of 
these.” 

He reached up and plucked the finest one 
he could see. No sooner had he done this 
than a shaggy beast came forth suddenly 
from a side path, where he had been hidden 
by a high hedge, and stood before the mer- 
chant. 

‘ ‘ This place is mine, ’ ’ the beast said in his 
deep gruff voice. “ Why do you pick my 
flowers? ” 

“ Forgive me, my lord,” the merchant 
begged, dropping on his knees before the 
beast. “ I did not know I was giving offense. 
It never occurred to me that anyone would 
object to my taking a single rose where there 
are so many.” 

“ Excuses are wasted on me,” the beast 
snarled. “ Thieving is thieving whether 
little or much is taken. You shall be pun- 
ished.” 

“ There seems to be no way to appease 
your wrath,” the merchant responded, “ and 
I have nothing further to say except that I 
wanted the rose, not for myself, but to carry 


196 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

home to the youngest of my three daugh- 
ters.” 

“ You have daughters, have you? ” the 
beast said. “ Now listen. This palace is 
lonely. I want one of your daughters to 
come here and live. ” 

“ Oh, sir! ” the merchant cried, “ do not 
ask that.” 

“ Nothing else will satisfy me,” the beast 
declared. “ I promise that no harm will be 
done her. Take home the rose you have 
picked and tell your daughters what I have 
said. In case no one of them will come, you 
must return and stay for the rest of your 
days in the palace dungeon.” 

“ My lord,” the merchant said, “ I shall 
not let a child of mine suffer for me. You 
may as well lock me up in your dungeon now 
as later.” 

“ No, you go home and consult your 
daughters first,” the beast ordered. 

“ I am in your power, ” the merchant said, 
“ and can only obey you.” 

Then he went to the stable, mounted his 
horse, and by night he reached home. His 


197 


Beauty and the Beast 

children ran out to greet him, hut instead 
of receiving their caresses with pleasure, the 
tears rolled down his cheeks. 

He still had the rose he had plucked in the 
beast’s garden, and he handed it to Beauty, 
saying, 44 Little do you think how dear that 
will cost your poor father.” 

Then he related all the sad adventures that 
had befallen him. 4 4 Tomorrow I shall re- 
turn to the beast,” he announced in closing. 

44 I can’t let you do that, father,” Beauty 
declared. 44 1 shall go in your stead.” 

44 Not so, sister! ” the brothers exclaimed. 
44 We will seek out the monster and either 
kill him or die ourselves.” 

44 You could accomplish nothing,” their 
father affirmed. 44 The beast dwells in an 
enchanted palace where he has invisible help- 
ers with whom you could not hope to con- 
tend successfully.” 

44 How unfortunate it all is! ” the older 
sisters sighed. 44 What a pity, Beauty, that 
you did not do as we did and ask father for 
something sensible! ” 

44 Well,” Beauty said, <4 who could have 


198 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

guessed that to ask for a rose would cause so 
much misery ? However, the fault is plainly 
mine, and I shall have to suffer the conse- 
quences.’ ’ 

Her father tried to dissuade her from her 
purpose, but she insisted. So the next morn- 
ing he mounted his horse, and, with Beauty 
seated behind him, started for the beast’s 
palace. 

They arrived at the long avenue of oaks 
late in the afternoon, and rode along it into 
the silent courtyard. At the door of the 
stable they dismounted, and after the mer- 
chant had seen his horse comfortably housed 
for the night they went into the palace. 

A cheerful fire was blazing in the big hall, 
and the table was daintily spread with the 
most delicious food. They sat down to this 
repast, but were too sad to eat much. 

Just as they finished, the beast came in and 
addressed the merchant. 4 ‘ Honest man, ’ ’ he 
said, “ I am glad that you could be trusted. 
Yesterday I was rude and threatening 
toward you, but that seemed necessary in 
order to get you to do what I wanted done. 


199 


Beauty and the Beast 

In the end I think you will have nothing to 
regret. Spend the night here, and tomorrow 
go your way.” 

“ This is my daughter, Beauty,” the mer- 
chant said. 

The beast turned toward her and bowed. 
“ My lady,” he said, “ make yourself en- 
tirely at home here. Whenever there is any- 
thing that you want, you need only clap your 
hands and say the word to have it brought to 
you. I am grateful for your coming, and I 
beg you to remember that I am not what I 
appear to be. But I cannot tell you what I 
really am, for I am under a spell. This spell 
I hope you will be able to remove.” 

So saying, he withdrew and left the mer- 
chant and his daughter sitting by the fire. 
‘ 4 What the beast means, I do not know, ’ ’ the 
merchant commented, “ but he talks very 
courteously.” 

They sat long in silence, and when the hour 
grew late each sought a chamber to try to 
sleep. 

On the morrow they found breakfast pre- 
pared for them in the hall, and they soon ate 


200 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

what little they felt able to eat. Then the 
merchant bade his daughter an affectionate 
farewell and went to the stable for his horse. 
It was all ready for him to mount, and, to 
his surprise, the saddlebags were full of gold. 

44 Ah, well! ” he sighed, 4 4 here is wealth 
once more, but it cannot make up for the loss 
of my dear daughter.’ ’ 

Beauty watched him ride away. As soon 
as he had passed on out of sight, she threw 
herself down on a cushioned window-seat 
and cried till she fell asleep. While she slept 
she dreamed that she was walking by a brook 
lamenting her hard fate, when a young 
prince, handsomer than any man she had 
ever seen before, came to her. 

44 My lady,” he said, 44 you are not so un- 
fortunate as you suppose. You will have 
your reward.” 

Late in the day she awoke a good deal re- 
freshed and comforted, and concluded that 
she would walk about and see something of 
the palace in which she was to live. There 
was much to admire, and she became more 
and more interested as she went on. Pres- 


Beauty and the Beast 201 

ently she came to a door on which were the 
words 

BEAUTY’S ROOM 

She went in. It was a splendidly fur- 
nished apartment, with comfortable chairs 
and couches, a piano, and an abundance of 
books and pictures. She picked up a book 
that lay on the table, and this is what she 
found written on the fly-leaf : 

“ Your wishes and commands shall be 
obeyed. You are the queen here over 
everything.” 

“ Alas! ” she thought, “ my chief wish 
just at this moment is to see what my poor 
father is doing.” 

While she was thinking this she perceived 
some movement in a mirror on the wall in 
front of her. She went to the mirror to in- 
vestigate, and in it saw her father arriving 
home, and her sisters and brothers meeting 
him. The vision faded quickly away, but 
Beauty felt very thankful that she had been 
allowed such a pleasure. 

“ This beast shows a great deal of kind- 


202 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

ness,” she said, glancing around the attrac- 
tive room. “ He must be a far better crea- 
ture than we have imagined.” 

Beauty did not see the beast until evening. 
Then he came and asked if he might sup 
with her. She replied that he could. But 
she would much rather have eaten alone, for 
she could not help trembling in his presence. 
Besides, his gruff voice startled her every 
time he spoke, though he talked to her with 
great courtesy and intelligence. 

When they had nearly finished eating, he 
said, “ I suppose you think my appearance 
extremely ugly.” 

“ Yes,” Beauty acknowledged, “ that is 
what I think, but I also think you are very 
good.” 

“ Thank you,” the beast said. “ You 
show a most gracious spirit in not judg- 
ing me wholly by my uncouth exterior. I 
will do anything I can to make you happy 
here.” 

“ You are very kind, Beast,” she told him. 
“ Indeed, when I think of your good heart, 
you no longer seem to me so ugly.” 


203 


Beauty and the Beast 

In the following days and weeks Beauty 
saw no one except the beast. Yet there were 
invisible servants who did everything pos- 
sible for her comfort and pleasure. She and 
the beast always had supper together, and as 
they sat at the table soft beautiful music 
was played, though whence it came, or who 
were the musicians she could not discover. 
His conversation never failed to be enter- 
taining and agreeable so that by degrees she 
became accustomed to his shaggy ugliness 
and learned to mind it less, and to think more 
of his many amiable qualities. 

Three months passed, and one day, when 
Beauty looked in her mirror, she saw a 
double wedding at her father ’s cottage. Her 
sisters were being married to two gentlemen 
of the region. Not long afterward the mir- 
ror showed that her three brothers had en- 
listed for soldiers, and the father was left 
alone. 

A few days more elapsed, and Beauty saw 
that her father was sick. The sight made 
her weep, and in the evening she told the 
beast what her mirror had revealed to her. 


204 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

“ Now that my father is unwell, I wish I 
could go and nurse him,” she said. 

“ Will you return at the end of a week, if 
you go? ” the beast asked. 

‘ 6 Yes,” she replied. 

“ I cannot refuse anything you desire,” 
the beast said. 1 1 A swift horse will be ready 
for you at sunrise.” 

Early the next day Beauty found the swift 
horse saddled for her in the courtyard, and 
away she went like the wind through the for- 
est toward her father’s cottage. When she 
arrived, the old merchant was so overjoyed 
at seeing her that his sickness quickly left 
him, and the two spent a very happy week 
together. 

As soon as the seven days were past she 
set forth for the beast’s palace, which she 
reached late in the afternoon. Supper time 
came and the food was served as usual, but 
the beast was absent. 

Beauty was much alarmed. “ Oh ! I hope 
nothing has happened to him,” she said — 
“ he is so good and considerate.” 

After waiting a short time she went to look 





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205 


Beauty and the Beast 

for him; and first she hurried through all 
the apartments of the palace, hut the beast 
was not there. Then she ran out in the twi- 
light to the garden, and by the borders of a 
fountain found him lying as if dead. 

“ Dear, dear Beast! ” she cried, kneeling 
beside him, “ what has happened? ” And 
she bent down and kissed his hairy cheek. 

At once a change came over the beast, and 
on the grass beside the fountain lay a hand- 
some prince. He opened his eyes and said 
feebly: “ My lady, I thank you. A wicked 
magician had condemned me to assume the 
form of an ugly beast until some beautiful 
maiden liked me well enough to kiss me. I 
think you are the only maiden in the world 
kind-hearted enough to have had affection 
for me in the uncouth form the magician 
gave me.” 

“ But why are you lying here, and why 
are you so weak? ” Beauty inquired anx- 
iously. 

“ While you were away,” he said, “ I was 
so lonely I could neither eat nor amuse my- 
self. I lost strength, and today, as I was 


206 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

walking here in the garden, I fell and could 
not rise.” 

Then Beauty filled a cup with water from 
the fountain and lifted him up so he could 
drink. The water revived him somewhat, 
and with her aid he rose to his feet. “ Call 
for help,” he said. 

She called, and several men came and car- 
ried the prince indoors. The servants were 
no longer invisible, for the enchantment had 
been removed from them as well as from 
their master. 

Warmth, food, and happiness went far 
toward restoring the prince, and he was up 
and about the next morning. Without fur- 
ther delay he sent for Beauty’s father to 
come and make his home with them. Not 
long afterward he and Beauty were married, 
and they lived with great joy and 
contentment in their palace 
for the rest of 
their days. 


XIV 

Jack the Giant Killer 

When good King Arthur reigned in Eng- 
land, there lived, near Land’s End in the 
county of Cornwall, a farmer who had a son 
called Jack. The lad was active and very 
strong and of such a quick wit that nobody 
could get the better of him. 

In those days a huge giant named Cor- 
moran lived on a small island near the Corn- 
ish coast. He was fully eighteen feet high 
and three yards round the waist, and he had 
a grim fierce face. All the country-side 
feared him ; for as often as he wanted food he 
waded to the mainland and helped himself 
to whatever came in his way. 

No sooner was the swish-swash of his big 

207 


208 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

feet heard in the water when he set out to 
come across to the coast than poor folk and 
rich folk alike ran out of their houses and 
hid themselves, leaving him unhindered to 
seize as many of their cattle as he chose. He 
made nothing of carrying off half a dozen 
fat oxen at a time on his back, and would 
also sometimes tie a score or more of sheep 
and pigs to his belt. This sort of thing he 
had done for many years, so that all Corn- 
wall was in despair. 

One day Jack went to a public meeting 
called after some fresh exploit of the giant’s 
to consider what could be done to get rid of 
the robber. Women were weeping and men 
were cursing, but not a plan could any of 
them devise. Jack asked the presiding mag- 
istrates what reward would be given to the 
person who destroyed Cormoran. 

“ The giant’s treasure will be the reward,” 
they replied. 

“ Then I will undertake the task,” Jack 
said. 

That evening he put a shovel, a pickax, 
and a horn into a little rowboat and crossed 


Jack the Giant Killer 209 

over to the giant’s island. There he set to 
work digging a huge pit not far from the 
cave in which the giant lived. In a few 
hours’ time he had a hole more than twenty 
feet deep and nearly that many feet square. 
He covered it with long sticks, which he over- 
laid with leafy twigs, and lastly he strewed 
on earth to make the spot appear like solid 
ground. 

Just at break of day he stationed himself 
on the side of the pit that was farthest from 
the giant’s lodging and blew his horn, 
6 6 Toot-toot-toot — toot-toot! ” 

The noise roused the giant, who looked out 
of his cave and saw Jack. “ You young ras- 
cal ! ” he shouted, “ why do you disturb my 
rest? ” 

Jack’s only reply was to blow his horn 
again, “ Toot-toot-toot — toot-toot! ” 

“ Ha ! ” the giant cried, “ you shall be well 
punished for your horn-blowing, you little 
whipper-snapper! I’ll teach you to wake a 
giant ! You shall pay dearly for your toot- 
toot-tooting ! I’m going to eat you for my 
breakfast.” 


210 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

He came running toward Jack, but as he 
was stretching out his hand to grasp him he 
stepped on the dirt and sticks that hid the 
pit, and down he went with such a crash that 
his neck was broken. 

“ We shall never have any more trouble 
from him,” Jack said; “ and now I’ll see 
what sort of a reward I am to have.” 

So he went and searched the cave and 
found as much treasure as he could well 
carry back in his boat. 

When the magistrates heard of what he 
had done they made a proclamation that 
henceforth he should be called 

JACK THE GIANT KILLER 

and presented him with a sword and a belt. 
On the belt were embroidered in letters of 
gold these words : 

Here’s Jack, the valiant Cornishman 
Who slew the giant, Cormoran. 

The news of Jack’s victory spread over all 
the west of England. Among those who 
heard it was a giant named Blunderbore, 





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Jack-the-yiant-killer falls asleep. 












Jack the Giant Killer 211 

and he vowed that the lad should be pun- 
ished. 

A few months later Jack was on a journey 
that took him into Blunderbore’s domain, 
and he stopped on the borders of a lonesome 
wood to rest. There he lay down beside a 
cool spring and fell asleep. 

In the midst of the wood the giant had his 
castle, and presently he came to the spring 
for water. He found Jack lying on the grass 
and knew who he was by the lines em- 
broidered on his belt. So he picked him up 
and carried him off to his castle. 

Jack was very much frightened to find 
himself in the giant’s clutches. He was still 
more alarmed on arriving at the castle to 
see that the courtyard was strewn with hu- 
man bones. 

“ Yours will soon be added to them,” 
Blunderbore declared, and took his captive 
to a chamber just above the castle gateway, 
locked him in, and went off. After a time 
Jack heard a sound of women crying in 
the next room. Then there was a rapping on 
the wall and a voice said: 


212 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

“ Do what you can to get away, 

Or you’ll become the giant’s prey. 

He’s gone to fetch his brother, who 

Will help him kill and feast on you.” 

In response, Jack rapped on the wall and 
said, “ I do not know who you are, but I 
thank you for your kindness, and I hope I 
may find some way to repay it.” 

Then he added to himself, u Now I must 
lose no time in seeing what can be done.” 

He looked about and discovered a coil of 
rope in a dark corner. “ This may help me 
to get away, ” he commented. 

The room had a single window that was 
over the castle entrance. Jack opened it, 
intending to slide down on the rope to the 
ground, but saw the giants coming, hur- 
rying along the road, eager for their dinner. 
“ Too late! ” he said. “ Well, I’ll try an- 
other trick.” 

So he made a cunning noose at each end 
of the rope, and while the giants were un- 
locking the iron gate he dropped the nooses 
over their heads. Then he pulled the giants 


Jack the Giant Killer 213 

up from the ground and tied the rope to a 
beam. That caused the death of both of 
them. 

Jack slid down the rope, took Blunder- 
bore’s keys, and went into the castle to seek 
for the room whence came the crying he had 
heard. In it were three fair ladies who had 
been held prisoners and were almost starved 
to death. 

“ Sweet ladies,” Jack said, “ you have no 
more to fear from Blunderbore or his 
brother. This castle and everything it con- 
tains is now yours. Here are the keys.” 

Then he returned to the giants, and after 
dragging their bodies to a ditch and burying 
them, he continued on his journey. Toward 
night he lost his way and went many miles 
without finding any habitation. It had 
grown so dark he could hardly see when he 
entered a narrow valley and got into a path 
that led him to a large rough house. He 
knocked at the door, and forth came the 
biggest ugliest giant he had ever seen. 

Jack wished himself elsewhere, but he put 
on a bold front and said, “ I am lost, Sir 


214 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

Giant, and I beg you to give me shelter for 
the night.” 

The giant appeared to be friendly, for he 
let Jack in, gave him something to eat, and 
showed him to a room, where he left him 
with kind wishes for a good rest. Jack lay 
down on the bed, which was very comfort- 
able, though a good deal too large. 

But he did not feel safe under the giant’s 
roof, and he stayed awake listening. His 
host was moving about in the next room mut- 
tering something over and over. At length 
the lad made out that he was saying, 

“ Though Jack doth lodge with me tonight, 

He shall not see the morning light.” 

“Ah!” Jack thought, “he means me 
harm, does he? ” 

Then he got up. Beside the fireplace was 
a pile of wood. Jack groped his way to this 
pile, took one of the largest sticks, and put it 
in his bed. That done, he made himself snug 
in a corner of the room back of the bed, pre- 
tending to snore so as to make the giant 
think he was asleep. 


Jack the Giant Killer 215 

Sure enough, after a little time, in came 
the monster carrying a big club. Then — 

Whack! Whack! Whack! 

The giant was belaboring the stick in the 
bed. “1 must have broken every bone in 
the fellow’s body,” he said, and went out, 
leaving his club on the floor. 

J ack picked it up and put it where it would 
be handy. Then he took the stick of wood 
from the bed, returned it to the pile, and got 
into the bed himself. He slept soundly the 
rest of the night. 

In the morning he was up early waiting 
for a visit from the giant. Presently the 
door opened and the giant walked in. He 
could hardly believe his eyes when he saw 
Jack, and he exclaimed with a gasp of sur- 
prise, “ What! is that you? ” 

u Why, of course! ” Jack said. “ Who 
else should it be? ” 

“ And how did you rest? ” the giant in- 
quired. “ Did you feel anything in the 
night? ” 

Jack laughed. “ Why, now you speak of 


216 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

it,” he said, “ I do believe a rat came and 
gave me two or three flaps with its tail. ’ ’ 

“ A rat, did you say? ” the giant asked, 
gazing at Jack with open-mouthed wonder. 

“ Yes,” Jack answered. 

The giant went to the bed and examined it. 
Then he stooped down and peered under- 
neath. At that instant Jack seized the 
giant’s club and gave him such a crack on 
the head that he never got up. 

A few days after this adventure Jack ar- 
rived late one evening at another giant’s cas- 
tle. It was in a lonely region, and as the 
giant had no near neighbors Jack saw that he 
must either get shelter at this castle or sleep 
in the open air. So he stepped up to the 
door and rapped. 

“ Who’s there? ” the giant roared. 

“ You may call me your Cousin Jack,” 
was the lad’s reply. 

“ Well, Cousin Jack, what do you want? ” 
the giant inquired. 

“ I want lodging for the night,” Jack 
said. 

Then the giant let him in and put some 


Jack the Giant Killer 217 

food on the table for him. After Jack had 
eaten a hearty supper, the two sat down by 
the fireside and the giant asked J ack to tell 
him the news. 

Jack thought he would be more secure if 
he frightened his host a little, and in answer 
to the giant’s question he said, “ I want you 
to understand that the great King Arthur 
is coming with two thousand men to destroy 
you and your castle this very night.” 

The giant began to shiver and shake. 
“ Ah, Cousin Jack ! kind Cousin Jack ! ” he 
said, “ this is heavy news indeed. I can 
fight five hundred men easily enough, but 
not two thousand. What am I to do ? ” 

“ Hide in the cellar,” crafty Jack replied. 
“ I will lock and bolt and bar you in and 
keep the key till morning.” 

Then the giant made haste down to the 
cellar and J ack locked and bolted and barred 
him in. Afterward the lad lay down on the 
giant’s bed and slept till daylight. As soon 
as he had dressed he released the giant, who 
at once climbed the loftiest tower of his cas- 
tle and looked north, south, east, and west. 


218 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

When he failed to discover an army he was 
somewhat relieved of his fears. He con- 
cluded that the enemy had come and gone 
and that Jack had protected him very effec- 
tively. To show his gratitude, he presented 
a purse of gold to Jack when the lad was 
departing. 

After a while Jack fell in with King Ar- 
thur’s only son, a valiant prince, who was 
going to pay court to a beautiful lady in 
Wales. The prince was riding on one horse 
and leading a second one laden with bag- 
gage; but when he met Jack he took half 
the baggage on his horse and had Jack 
mount the other. They went along together 
until they came to a town where there was a 
great commotion. A crowd of people had 
gathered about a poor man whom they were 
threatening because he did not pay them 
various sums of money that were their due. 

The prince pushed into the midst of the 
crowd and talked with the persecuted man, 
who said in closing, “ I have nothing with 
which to satisfy them, and they will kill me. ’ ’ 

Then the prince turned on the crowd and 


Jack the Giant Killer 219 

cried: “ Let him alone! I will not see him 
harmed. Come with me, all yon whom he 
owes, and yon shall be paid.” 

He songht an inn, and the rabble followed. 
By the time he was through with the last of 
them his money was all gone, and Jack’s too, 
except threepence. 

Now J ack and the prince set off again, bnt 
as they were leaving the town an old woman 
ran after them, calling ont: “ Justice! Jus- 
tice ! that man has owed me threepence these 
seven years. Pray pay me as you did the 
rest.” 

They gave the woman the threepence and 
rode along over the hills and mountains until 
the sun hung low in the west. “ Jack,” the 
prince said, “ since we have no money, where 
can we lodge this night? ” 

“ Master,” Jack responded, “I have 
heard that not two miles from where we are 
now a giant lives in an enchanted castle. On 
the castle door hangs a great golden trumpet, 
and if any man can succeed in blowing that 
trumpet the castle doors will fly open and 
the giant’s power will be ended. Many 


220 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

knights have tried to break the enchantment, 
but they had not strength to blow the trum- 
pet and all have perished. ” 

“ Alas! ” the prince said, “ then I fear it 
would be foolish for us to go any nearer that 
fatal place.” 

“ But I think I can blow any trumpet that 
ever was made, ’ ’ J ack declared. “ So if for- 
tune favors us, we will lodge tonight in the 
giant’s castle.” 

They kept on and the castle was soon close 
at hand. No one was on guard, for the giant 
thought his enchanted dwelling was per- 
fectly safe from all assailants. The golden 
trumpet hung by a silver chain on the door, 
and under it was a placard which bore these 
lines : 

Whenever by man this great trumpet is 
blown, 

The giant, its owner, shall be overthrown; 
But whoever fails in the task, let him know, 
He never alive from this castle shall go. 

Jack read the placard. Then, without 
hesitation, he drew a full breath, put the 
trumpet to his lips, and blew a blast that 


221 


Jack the Giant Killer 

waked the echoes for ten miles around. The 
castle trembled to its foundations, the doors 
swung open, and the giant turned into a 
great owl which flew away to the forest. 

“ Well done! ” the prince cried, and he 
and Jack took possession of the castle. 

There they remained for some time. While 
exploring the great building, Jack came to 
a window barred with iron, and when he 
looked in beheld many miserable captives. 

“ Alas! Alack! ” they cried. “ Are you 
come to join us in this dreadful prison? ” 

“ Tell me why you are thus held captive,” 
Jack said. 

“ It is through no fault of ours,” they de- 
clared. “ The cruel giant carried us off, and 
here we are kept until such time as he desires 
a feast. Then he chooses the fattest and sups 
off them.” 

On hearing this, Jack straightway un- 
locked the door of the prison and set the poor 
captives free. Some were peasant folk and 
some were gentry, and among the latter was 
a duke’s daughter who was so charming that 
Jack fell in love with her. 


222 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

He and the prince found plenty of treas- 
ure in the giant’s castle, and Jack discov- 
ered a magic coat that made its wearer in- 
visible, and a magic cap that gave the person 
who had it on his head knowledge of all that 
he wished to know, and a pair of shoes that 
enabled whoever wore them to travel with 
extraordinary swiftness. 

By means of the cap Jack presently 
learned that a giant named Gloggan had 
vowed he was going to visit Jack and the 
prince at their castle very soon. He boasted 
that he would take dinner with them and 
that they would be the dinner and he would 
do the eating. 

“ If that is the way he feels,” Jack said, 
“ we shall have to make ready for him.” 

The castle was surrounded by a moat 
thirty feet deep and twenty feet wide. This 
moat was spanned by a stout drawbridge 
into which Jack sawed from either side 
nearly to the middle. Thus the bridge was 
weakened so that any weight beyond two or 
three hundred pounds would break it down. 

On the day after this job was done the 


Jack the Giant Killer 223 

giant was seen approaching, and Jack 
marched forth to meet him. Suddenly the 
giant stopped and began to sniff the air. 
“ Fe, fi, fo, fum! ” he exclaimed, “ I smell a 
man! ” and he looked all about. 

“ Here I am! ” Jack shouted, but he had 
on his magic coat and was invisible. 

“ Are you the villain who has been de- 
stroying us giants'? ” Gloggan demanded, 
brandishing his club. “ If you are, I will 
grind your bones to powder.’ ’ 

• “ You will have to catch me first,” Jack 

said. 

He approached close enough to prick the 
giant in the leg with his sword. My good- 
ness ! How the monster roared ! He began 
to lay about him with his knotted club, but 
Jack had jumped back out of the way. 

Now the lad threw off his magic coat to 
allow the giant to see him, and ran with all 
speed toward the castle. He had no fear that 
he would be overtaken, for he was wearing 
his shoes of swiftness, and he easily escaped 
across the drawbridge. 

The giant had followed with steps that 


224 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

made the earth shake, but when he set foot 
on the bridge it gave way. Down he went 
with a tremendous splash into the water, and 
as he did not know how to swim he was 
drowned. 

A week or two later J ack and the prince 
journeyed to the house of the beautiful 
Welsh lady whom the prince wished to 
marry. They were made very welcome, and 
presently a splendid banquet was prepared 
in their honor. 

While the repast was being served, the 
lady held up her handkerchief for the prince 
to see, and said: “ I have a task for you. 
Show me this handkerchief tomorrow morn- 
ing and I will marry you. If you are not 
clever enough to do that you can go your 
way, for I never shall accept you.” 

When she left the dining hall she carried 
the handkerchief with her, and the prince 
was greatly distressed. He thought he must 
surely fail and he told Jack how things were. 
Then Jack put on his cap of knowledge, by 
means of which he learned that the lady had 
given the handkerchief to a serving man 


Jack the Giant Killer 225 

with orders to mount a swift horse and start 
at once for a distant town. There he was to 
leave the handkerchief in the hollow of an 
old yew tree, in a churchyard. 

So Jack put on his magic coat and shoes, 
and he followed the man on horseback for 
hour after hour until he reached the distant 
town. The man thrust the handkerchief into 
the hollow yew, but no sooner was his back 
turned than Jack pulled the handkerchief 
out, and before daylight the lad had taken it 
to the prince. 

In the morning the prince showed it to 
the lady. Shortly afterward she married 
him. As for Jack, he married the duke’s 
daughter whom he had rescued from the en- 
chanted castle, and who, in his opinion, was 
the most beauteous maiden the sun ever 
shone on. When the wedding festivities 
were over, the young men and their wives 
traveled to the court of King Arthur. The 
king was rejoiced to see them, and he re- 
warded J ack for his many great exploits by 
making him one of the Knights of the 
Round Table. 


XY 

The Three Bears 

Once upon a time there were three bears 
who lived together in a house of their own in 
a forest. One of them was a little bear ; and 
one of them was a middle-sized bear, who 
was the little bear’s mother ; and one of them 
was a big bear, who was the little bear’s 
father. 

They each had a bowl for their porridge — 
a little bowl for the little bear, a middle- 
sized bowl for the middle-sized bear, and a 
big bowl for the big bear. And they each 
had a chair to sit in — a little chair for the 
little bear, a middle-sized chair for the mid- 
dle-sized bear, and a big chair for the big 
bear. And they each had a bed to sleep in — 
a little bed for the little bear, a middle-sized 
226 


The Three Bears 227 

bed for the middle-sized bear, and a big bed 
for the big bear. 

One day, after they had cooked their por- 
ridge for dinner and poured it into their 
porridge bowls on the table, they went out 
for a walk to give the porridge time to cool. 
That same day a little girl called Golden 
Hair, who lived on the borders of the forest, 
went into the woodland. She rambled on 
picking flowers here and there until at last 
she said to herself: “ Now I must go back. 
I didn’t intend to come such a long way, and 
I’m tired and hungry.” 

Just then she looked on ahead up the 
lonely hollow into which she had strayed, and 
saw among the trees a nice little house. 

“ I didn’t know that anyone lived here 
in the forest,” Golden Hair said. “ I will 
go and find out whose house this is.” 

She ran to the door and rapped, but got no 
response. Then she peeped in at the keyhole 
and afterward she looked in at a window. 

“ Well,” she said, “ I don’t see anybody, 
but the people who live here can’t be 
far away, for I saw smoke coming out of the 


228 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

chimney. I suppose I might step in, if the 
door isn’t locked.” 

She lifted the latch, and found that the 
door was not locked. So she went in and 
looked about, and what pleased her most was 
to see the porridge on the table. 

“ I think the people who live in this house 
have set the table for dinner, ’ ’ she said. i t If 
they were here I ’m sure they would invite me 
to eat with them. Oh ! how hungry I am. I 
don’t suppose they would care if I ate some 
of their porridge without waiting till they 
came. I will taste it, anyway. ’ ’ 

So she went to the table and took a spoon- 
ful of porridge from the big bowl. “ This 
is too hot,” she said. “ I will try the next.” 

Then she took a spoonful of porridge from 
the middle-sized bowl. “ This is too cold,” 
she said. 

Then she took a spoonful of porridge from 
the little bowl. That was neither too hot nor 
too cold, but was just right, and she ate the 
porridge in the little bowl all up. 

Along the wall were the bears’ three 
chairs, and each had a cushion in it. She 


The Three Bears 229 

tried the big chair, but the cushion was too 
hard for her. 

“ Dear me!” Golden Hair said, “ this 
chair won ’t do at all. I will try the next. ’ ’ 

Then she sat down in the middle-sized 
chair. ‘ 4 This cushion is too soft, ’ 9 she said. 

Then she tried the little chair, and it suited 
her to perfection. The cushion in it was 
neither too hard nor too soft, but was just 
right. She had settled herself in it to enjoy 
a good rest, when crack! smash! the chair 
broke, and Golden Hair tumbled to the floor. 

“ That was a nice little chair,” she said as 
she got up. “I’m sorry it is broken. How 
am I to rest now? I don’t like the other 
chairs. I must see where the beds are.” 

She went into an adjoining room, and 
there were the beds. First she tried the big 
bed, but it was too high at the head for her. 

Then she tried the middle-sized bed. 
“ This is too high at the foot, ” she said. 

Lastly she tried the little bed. That was 
neither too high at the head nor too high at 
the foot, but just suited her. She lay down 
on it, covered herself up, and fell fast 


230 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

asleep. Soon afterward the three bears 
returned from their walk. They looked at 
their porridge bowls and saw that things 
were not as they had left them, for the 
wooden spoons were in the bowls instead of 
lying on the table beside them. 

* 44 SOMEBODY HAS BEEN TASTING 
MY PORRIDGE ! ” the big bear growled in 
his great gruff voice. 

44 And somebody has been tasting my 
porridge! ” the middle-sized bear grumbled. 

“ And somebody has been tasting my por- 
ridge , and eaten it all up! ” the little bear 
piped. 

“We will look around,’ ’ they said, 
44 and see if there has been any more med- 
dling.” 

They turned to where they kept their 
chairs ranged along the wall. 

41 4 SOMEBODY HAS BEEN SITTING 
IN MY CHAIR ! ’ ’ the big bear growled in 
his great gruff voice, for Golden Hair had 
pushed the hard cushion out of place. 

44 And somebody has been sitting in 
my chair! ” the middle-sized bear grum- 



Goldenhair is found by the three bears . 






The Three Bears 231 

bled, for Golden Hair had flattened down 
the soft cushion. 

“ And somebody lias been sitting in my 
chair , and broken it all to pieces! ” the little 
bear piped. 

Then they went into their bedroom. 

“ SOMEBODY HAS BEEN LYING 
ON MY BED ! ” the big bear growled in 
his great gruff voice. 

“ And somebody has been lying on 
my bed!” the middle-sized bear grumbled. 

“ And somebody lias been lying on my bed, 
and here she is! ” the little bear piped. 

The voice of the little bear was so sharp 
and shrill that it awakened Golden Hair at 
once. She sat bolt upright and stared at the 
three bears, and they stared at her. 

They were standing in a row on one side 
of the bed, and Golden Hair tumbled herself 
out on the other side before they could catch 
her. Luckily the window was open, and out 
she leaped. Then she ran home as fast as 

she could go, and she never again went 
near the place where the 
three bears lived. 


XVI 

Bluebeard 

Once upon a time there was a man who 
lived in a mansion which was so splendid and 
richly furnished that even a king might have 
been proud of it. The dishes were of gold 
and silver, the chairs and sofas were covered 
with flowered satin, and the curtains were 
of the richest silk. 

But, alas ! the owner of this mansion was 
so unlucky as to have a blue beard, and the 
beard made him look so frightfully ugly that 
the first impulse of every woman and girl 
he met was to run away from him. 

Besides, it was rumored that he had mar- 
ried at various times in distant places and 
brought home his brides one after another ; 
yet none of his neighbors ever saw or heard 

232 


Bluebeard 


233 


of them afterward. He sometimes courted a 
local maiden with sufficient success to induce 
her to suggest to her parents that she marry 
him and become mistress of his splendid 
mansion. Their usual response was: 

“ Oh, no! my daughter; no, not so; 

They ne’er return who thither go.” 

Among those who dwelt in Bluebeard’s 
vicinity was a lady of quality who had two 
beautiful daughters, and he particularly 
wished to marry one of them. The lady was 
a widow with only a small estate, and his 
wealth and fine mansion made her feel that 
the match was on the whole very desirable. 

He was willing to let her decide which 
of the daughters he should marry, but 
neither would have him. They could not 
bear the thought of having a husband with a 
blue beard, and their mother sighed to think 
of her children’s obstinacy. 

In order to cure their dislike, Bluebeard 
at length invited them and their mother and 
some young friends to spend a whole week at 
his home. They came, and nothing was 


234 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

thought of but feasting, dancing, and music, 
and parties for hunting and fishing. 

The guests were loaded with costly gifts 
and were so delightfully entertained that 
before many days had passed, Fatima, the 
younger of the two sisters, began to be of the 
opinion that the gentleman was very civil 
and obliging, and that his beard, which she 
had thought was dreadfully ugly, was not 
so very blue after all. By the end of the 
week the kindness of her host had made 
such an impression that she concluded it 
would be a pity to refuse to become his wife 
on account of the trifling circumstance of 
his having a blue beard. 

So they were married shortly afterward, 
and at first everything went well. A month 
passed, and one morning Bluebeard told 
Fatima that he must go on a journey that 
would take him away for at least six weeks. 
He handed her his keys, saying: “ I give 
these into your care. Here are two heavy 
brass keys in the bunch. They open the two 
large storerooms. This next one is the key 
of the great chest in which is kept the finest 


Bluebeard 


235 


tableware that we use when we have com- 
pany. Here is the key to the strong box 
where I keep my money. Here is one that 
opens the casket which contains my jewels. 
You will find a key for every lock on the 
place. 

“ But, my dear, I would have you notice 
among the keys the small one of polished 
steel. It unlocks the little room at the end of 
the long corridor. Go where you will, and 
amuse yourself in any manner that you 
please, except for that one room, which I 
forbid you to enter.’ ’ 

Fatima promised faithfully to obey his 
orders, and he kissed her affectionately, 
stepped into his carriage, and drove away, 
while she stood at the door of the mansion 
waving her hand. 

Lest she should be lonesome during her 
husband’s absence, she invited numerous 
guests to keep her company. Most of them 
had not dared to venture into the house while 
Bluebeard was there, but now they came 
without any urging or delay, eager to see its 
splendors. 


236 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

They ran about upstairs and downstairs, 
peeping into the closets and wardrobes, ad- 
miring the rooms, and exclaiming over the 
beauties of the tapestries, sofas, cabinets, 
and tables, and of the mirrors in which they 
could see themselves from head to foot. 
With one consent they praised what they 
saw, and envied the good fortune of their 
friend, the mistress of all this magnificence. 

She went around unlocking the doors for 
their convenience until the only door that 
remained untouched was that of the obscure 
room at the end of the long corridor. She 
wondered why she had been forbidden to 
enter that room. What was there in it? 
Even if she did go in, her husband need 
never know that she had done so. 

The more she thought about it the more 
curious she became. Finally, without con- 
sidering that it was very uncivil to leave her 
guests, she went down a little back staircase 
so hastily she once or twice came near break- 
ing her neck. 

Then she ran along the dark narrow pas- 
sage that led to the forbidden room. At the 


Bluebeard 


237 


door she hesitated, recalling her husband’s 
command, and fearful of his anger ; but the 
temptation was too strong, and she trem- 
blingly opened the door. 

The window shutters were closed and the 
light was so dim that at first she could see 
nothing. However, her eyes gradually be- 
came used to the dusk and she discovered 
that on the floor lay the bodies of all the 
wives Bluebeard had married. 

Fatima uttered a cry of horror, her 
strength left her, and she thought she would 
die from fear. The key of the room fell 
from her hand, but she picked it up, hastily 
retreated to the corridor, and locked the door. 

Yet she could not forget what she had 
seen, and when she returned to her guests 
her mind was too disturbed for her to at- 
tend to their comfort, or to attempt to enter- 
tain them. One by one they bade their 
hostess good-by and went home, until nobody 
was left with her except her sister Anne. 

After all the guests had gone, Fatima no- 
ticed a spot of blood on the key of the fatal 
room. She tried to wipe it off, but the spot 


238 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

remained. Then she washed the key with 
soap and scoured it with sand. Her efforts 
were in vain, for it was a magic key, and only 
Bluebeard himself had the power to remove 
the stain. At last she decided not to put it 
with the other keys, but to hide it, hoping 
her husband would not miss it. 

Bluebeard returned unexpectedly that 
very evening. He said a horseman had met 
him on the road and told him that the busi- 
ness which had taken him from home had 
been satisfactorily settled. So there was no 
need of his making the long journey. 

Fatima tried to welcome her husband with 
every appearance of pleasure, but all the 
time she was dreading the moment when he 
should ask for the keys. This he did not do 
until the following morning. Then she gave 
them to him with such a blanched face and 
shaking hand that he easily guessed what 
had happened. 

“ Why have you not brought me the key 
of the little room? ” he asked sternly. 

“ I must have left it on my table up- 
stairs,’ ’ she faltered. 


Bluebeard 


239 


“ Bring it to me at once,” Bluebeard said, 
and she was forced to go and make a pre- 
tense of searching for it. 

When she dared delay no longer, she re- 
turned to her husband and surrendered the 
key. He immediately demanded the cause 
of the stain on it, and she hesitated, at a loss 
what reply to make. 

“ But why need I ask? ” he shouted. “ I 
know the meaning of it right well. You 
have disobeyed my commands and have been 
into the room I ordered you not to enter. 
Very well, madam, since you are so fond of 
that room, you shall take your place among 
the ladies you saw there.” 

Fatima fell on her knees at his feet weep- 
ing and begging for mercy. She looked so 
very mournful and lovely that she would 
have melted any heart that was not harder 
than a rock. 

“ Since I must die,” she said, “ at least 
give me a little time to say my prayers.” 

“ I will give you ten minutes, but not one 
moment more,” Bluebeard responded. 

Poor Fatima hastened to a little turret 


240 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

chamber whither her sister had fled in terror 
and grief. “ Sister Anne! ” she cried, “ go 
up to the top of the tower and see if our two 
brothers are coming. They promised to 
visit me today. If they are in sight, beckon 
them to come quickly.’ ’ 

So the sister climbed the narrow staircase 
that led to the top of the tower. No sooner 
did she finish the ascent than Fatima called 
from below, “ Anne, Sister Anne, do you see 
anyone coming? ” 

Anne replied sadly, “I see nothing but 
the sun shining and the grass growing tall 
and green.” 

Several times Fatima put the same ques- 
tion and received the same answer. 

Meanwhile Bluebeard was waiting with a 
cimiter in one hand and his watch in the 
other. At length he bawled as loud as he 
could: “ The ten minutes are almost gone. 
Make an end to your prayers ! ” 

“ Anne, Sister Anne!” Fatima called 
softly , 6 6 look again. Is no one on the road ? ’ ’ 

“ I see a cloud of dust rising in the dis- 
tance,” Anne answered. 



Fatima begs Bluebeard to spare her life , 






Bluebeard 241 

“ Perchance it is made by our brothers,” 
Fatima said. 

“ Alas! no,” Anne responded. “ The dust 
has been raised by a flock of sheep.” 

“ Fatima! ” Bluebeard roared, u I com- 
mand you to come down.” 

“ One moment — just one moment more ! ” 
the wretched wife sobbed. 

Again she called, “ Anne, Sister Anne, do 
you see anyone coming'? ” 

“ I see two horsemen riding in this direc- 
tion,” Anne replied, “ but they are a great 
way off.” 

“ They must be our brothers,” Fatima 
said. “ Heaven be praised! Oh, sign to 
them to hasten! ” 

By this time the enraged Bluebeard was 
howling so loud for his wife to come down 
that his voice shook the whole mansion. 
Fatima dared delay no longer. She de- 
scended to the great hall, threw herself at 
her wicked husband’s feet, and once more 
begged him to spare her life. 

“ Silence! ” Bluebeard cried. “ Your 
entreaties are wasted! You shall die! ” 


242 Fairy Tales Everyone Should Know 

He seized her by the hair and raised his 
cimiter to strike. At that moment a loud 
knocking was heard at the gates, and Blue- 
beard paused with a look of alarm. 

Anne had run down to let the brothers in. 
She flung open the gates and the brothers 
hurried to the hall with swords ready drawn 
in their hands. They rushed at Bluebeard, 
and one rescued his sister from her hus- 
band’s grasp, while the other gave the wretch 
a sword-thrust that put an end to his life. 

So the wicked Bluebeard perished, and 
Fatima became mistress of all his riches. 
Part of her wealth she bestowed on her sis- 
ter, Anne, and part on her two brothers. 
The rest she retained herself, and presently 
she married a man whose kind treatment 
helped her to forget her unfortunate 
experience with Bluebeard. 


The stories are told — let’s shut the door ; 

But they come from where there are plenty more. 














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